Ontario’s coroner is investigating after an 11-month-old Cree boy died at a Fort Albany hospital, prompting family questions about remote care.
Ontario’s Office of the Chief Coroner is investigating the death of an 11-month-old Cree boy from Attawapiskat who died this month at a remote hospital in Fort Albany, days after his family first sought medical help.
Jake Koostachin died April 9, about five hours after his mother, Kelly Koostachin, brought him to the Fort Albany hospital with a fever. His family says he would still be alive if he had received the care he needed, and they are asking why his condition was not escalated sooner.
Koostachin told CBC News that Jake had been diagnosed with croup during an April 3 visit to the Moose Factory hospital, after developing a cough and fever. Six days later, while in Fort Albany, she took him to hospital again at about 4:30 p.m. as his fever returned.
The Fort Albany facility is staffed by nurses, with a doctor who visits periodically and is otherwise available by phone from Moose Factory, about 130 kilometres away, according to the hospital’s website.
Koostachin said nurses assessed Jake after they arrived, then she and her son waited for a call from the on-call doctor in Moose Factory. She said Jake was initially alert but became increasingly uncomfortable and inconsolable over the next several hours.
“My son is just deteriorating before my very eyes,” she told CBC News, describing her frustration as she waited for a doctor’s call.
Her mother, Jocelyn Wesley, said Koostachin repeatedly went to the nursing station seeking help and was told staff were waiting for the doctor. Wesley said her daughter was “begging for help” as Jake’s condition worsened.
Koostachin said that around 8:30 p.m. she noticed a reddish-purple rash spreading across Jake’s body. Around that time, she said, the doctor called from Moose Factory, agreed something was seriously wrong and began discussing air transport to a higher-level hospital. Jake died shortly afterward, around 9 p.m., while nurses were working on him, she said.
The family said in a news release that they were told Jake died of meningitis, but later said they could not discuss the cause of death. Meningitis is an inflammation around the brain and spinal cord that can be life-threatening.
The family said it has retained a lawyer and welcomes the coroner’s investigation. Mushkegowuk Council is also formally requesting an inquest into the circumstances surrounding Jake’s death, Deputy Grand Chief Natasha Martin told CBC News.
The Weeneebayko Area Health Authority, which oversees the Moose Factory and Fort Albany hospitals, did not respond to CBC News requests for comment. The family said that, two weeks after Jake’s death, it had not heard from senior WAHA leadership.
The Ontario Ministry of Health called the death “deeply tragic” and said hospitals are expected under the Provincial Hospitals Act to review critical incidents and share findings with affected patients or families.
Indigenous Services Canada said it had offered condolences and support to Attawapiskat First Nation. The department also said Northeastern Public Health had been notified of a case of invasive meningococcal disease involving an unnamed individual who travelled to Attawapiskat, Fort Albany and Moose Factory while infectious. Public health nurses have been sent to trace contacts and monitor for new cases; the department said no other illnesses had been reported so far.
The investigation now leaves the family, and communities along the James Bay coast, waiting for answers about what happened inside the hospital and whether Jake’s death could have been prevented.
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