Inquest into waiting room death of Darrell Mesheau important to ‘make sure it never happens again’, says son
Editor’s Note: This story was originally published by the Telegraph-Journal on April 10, 2024, under Creative Commons license as part of the Local Journalism Initiative. CHMA is republishing the story for our readers because of Darrell Mesheau’s close connections to the Sackville community. Mesheau is the elder brother of former Sackville Mayor Shawn Mesheau, and former MLA and cabinet minister Peter Mesheau.
By: Andrew Bates, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Telegraph-Journal
The night Donald Darrell Mesheau’s heart failed seven hours into his wait to see a Fredericton ER doctor, all the tasks in triage fell to one nurse, plus anyone who could be spared to help.
The Horizon Health Network manager responsible that night said these are “battles” fought daily in New Brunswick’s health-care system, beset with a nursing shortage and delays in finding long-term care for patients.
His son says “every medical professional” failed his father, and he’d be alive if he’d been seen before his heart had already stopped.
Over two days this week, a coroner’s inquest heard that Mesheau, 78, was taken to Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital in Fredericton just after 9:30 p.m. on July 11, 2022, and was found found unresponsive in the waiting room just before 4:30 a.m. the next morning. The five-person jury declared he died of natural causes, with the cause of death listed as heart failure.… Continue
Inquest called into ER waiting room death of Darrell Mesheau
A coroner’s inquest has been called into the ER waiting room death of Darrell Mesheau, elder brother of former Sackville mayor Shawn Mesheau and former Conservative cabinet minister Peter Mesheau.
The 78-year-old Mesheau died while awaiting care in a Fredericton ER waiting room last July. Although his identity was not officially released until an inquest announcement on Tuesday, the circumstances of his death were widely reported and led to major health care leadership changes.
Three days following Mesheau’s death, Premier Blaine Higgs held a press conference to announce the re-assignment of then health minister Dorothy Shephard, the dissolution of partially-elected boards of Horizon and Vitalité health networks, and the firing of then-Horizon CEO John Dornan, who was only 4 months into his 5 year contract.
A Fredericton area support worker said he waited alongside Mesheau in the ER waiting room at the Dr. Everett Chalmers hospital in the early hours of July 12. John Staples described the scene in the full emergency room in a post on Facebook. Mesheau was waiting in discomfort, says Staples, and then appeared to fall asleep. When a hospital staffer came to check on waiting patients, they noticed Mesheau’s condition and called a code blue.
Darrell Mesheau served as a diplomat in the Canadian Foreign Service. He was also a film and theatre actor, a tour guide and avid historian, among other pursuits. … Continue