CONCERNED son, Jeffrey Smith, 71, has spoken out in anger and disbelief over the treatment his 93-year-old mother Mary received during a medical emergency.

Mary, of Markham, a retired nurse with 54 years of service, was described as “fit and active” before suffering a perforated bowel on Tuesday, 29 July, Jeffrey said.

On that day, Jeffrey called for an ambulance at 2:20pm after Mary was struck by immense pain. He was told the estimated wait time was an hour and a half. As her condition worsened, a call handler insisted on speaking directly to Mary to determine what type of ambulance was needed. But Mary was in agony and unable to speak.

“I told them sarcastically, ‘I need an ambulance with a driver and a paramedic. Is that understood?’” Jeffrey said. “I stressed this was an extreme emergency, but the call handler kept saying, ‘Until I speak to your mother…’ It felt like they were making it difficult to get the obvious help we needed.”

The call handler abruptly ended the call after........

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