Cape Breton doctor says some patients risking health by avoiding ER

A Cape Breton doctor says some patients are putting their health at risk by avoiding the emergency department in Sydney, N.S., because they are worried about long wait times and exposure to people with contagious illnesses.

Dr. Joan Salah, who works at the urgent treatment centre in North Sydney, said she told one patient who recentlyvisited the centre because of chest pains to go to the hospital. He was placed on a stretcher and paramedics were ready to make the 20-minute driveto the Cape Breton Regional Hospital. But Salah said he refused to go.

The patient was told that he might die if he returned home"and he made that choice rather than go to the emergency department, which, when you're the paramedics and the physician standing there trying to convince him that his symptoms are worth being assessed in the emergency department, that can feel scary," Salah told Information Morning Cape Breton.

The patient did not go to the hospital by ambulance and Salah said she doesn't know whathappened to him.