WINNIPEG — Final submissions are underway in an inquest into the death of a Winnipeg woman who was sent home from hospital in a taxi.
Deryk Coward, the lawyer for Heather Brenan's family, says her death was preventable.
Coward says Brenan spent far too long — four days — in the emergency department at Seven Oaks hospital and was sent home without a full assessment in January 2012.
The 68-year-old was severely obese and had gone to hospital because she had trouble swallowing.
Tests showed no physical blockage and, as Brenan began to feel better, she was sent home by taxi, where she was met by a friend.
She collapsed struggling to walk to her back door and her death was attributed to a blood clot, caused by deep vein thrombosis, that had not been detected at the hospital.
"All evidence shows DVT can be treated once formed," Coward said. "We know that none of the doctors in the (emergency) department considered DVTs."
