Canadian healthcare shortcomings claim the life of 37-year-old mother

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Allison Holthoff suffered abdominal injuries after falling during horseback riding back in September. Her husband told reporters that her condition had deteriorated ever since. By New Year's eve, her pain had become unbearable; he found her on the floor after her attempt to assuage the pain was to no effect.

Her husband said he believes she was neglected by the healthcare staff at the hospital. Allison had finished triage by 11:20 am but was forced to wait until 3 pm to be examined by the ER physician. She waited for 3 more hours to do an x-ray scan. By then, she was screaming in pain. 

Allison had died slowly and very painfully while her husband watched helplessly as the staff neglected her and underestimated the urgency of her situation. Even after death, the doctors couldn't determine the cause of her injury. They settled for assessing the cause of death as internal bleeding.

Canadian Health wrote in a statement "Nova Scotia Health has begun an investigation, known as a quality review, into this case to determine what happened, how we can do better, and what we can do to prevent it from happening in the future."

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Smith-McCrossin of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly emphasized the urgency of placing a dedicated healthcare worker in the waiting room to monitor patients and provide an ongoing assessment of their condition.