Image: Tara Clow

A person has died at The Moncton Hospital while waiting to be assessed by an emergency department physician.

The Horizon Health Network, which oversees the facility, confirmed the death in a statement on Wednesday.

Dr. Serge Melanson, Horizon’s clinical lead of emergency services, said a patient arrived in the emergency (ED) department on Tuesday evening with a “serious health concern.”

“At the time, the ED was in a critical overcapacity state,” Melanson said in a statement to our newsroom.

Melanson said the patient was appropriately triaged as an “emergency priority” and placed in the main waiting room until a suitable exam space became available in the emergency department.

The individual was being monitored by staff and had some early testing completed, but Melanson said their condition “quickly deteriorated” while they waited to be assessed by the physician.

“The patient was then brought to the resuscitation area of the ED, where the medical team’s best efforts to resuscitate the patient were unfortunately unsuccessful,” he said.

“I’d like to share my deepest sympathies to the family and friends of this patient, while also recognizing the efforts of our physicians and staff for doing everything they could to save this patient under challenging circumstances.”

This is the third death to occur at one of Horizon’s emergency departments in recent months, and the second at The Moncton Hospital.

In August, a patient died in the acute care area of The Moncton Hospital’s emergency department.

The individual presented to the hospital on the evening of Aug. 12 and began exhibiting “serious symptoms” the following morning. They died while under the care of clinicians, according to the health authority.

And in July, a patient died in the emergency department waiting room at the Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital in Fredericton.