Hospital staff provided ‘reasonable’ care to Ontario teen who died after waiting hours in ER, statement of defence claims

A statement of defence filed by a health-services corporation and several nurses in Ontario denies allegations of negligence made in a lawsuit filed on behalf of the family of a 16-year-old boy who waited hours to see a doctor, later dying of pneumonia and septic shock.

The lawsuit involves Finlay van der Werken, an active, hockey-playing teen who was rushed to the Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital by his mother on the evening of Feb. 7, 2024. Mr. Van der Werken was experiencing excruciating pain on his right side, she said.