Edmonton man's cancer death 11 weeks after diagnosis highlights Alberta medical oncologist shortage
CTV News Edmonton - August 13, 2024
May 2 is a day Cici Nguyen says she'll never forget.
That day less than four months ago is when Edmonton's Steven Wong, her 41-year-old husband, was diagnosed with Stage 4 gastric cancer.
"It's like, if you could explain to somebody that their life has imploded, it was how I felt," Nguyen told CTV News Edmonton on Tuesday.
It marked the start of an 11-week battle for care.
Wong died in mid-July, leaving Nguyen without her husband, their three young boys without their father and a family without faith in Alberta's health care system.
Not once did Wong or Nguyen see or speak to a medical oncologist — doctors who specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer — before his death.
"I did everything I think humanly possible to help him get the care that he needed," Nguyen said.
"Not only that, he was willing to fight. He was 41, he was a tough human being, and he wasn't ready to give up because he has three boys waiting for him at home, but then being hit by roadblocks was very, very difficult, like falling on deaf ears, in a sense, where we were kept in the dark for a lot of it, for almost all of it."
Nguyen said if she could turn back time, she "wouldn't have stayed here."
"That day he was diagnosed, May 2, I would have hopped on a plane with him and left," she said.
Dr. John Walker, a medical oncologist at Edmonton's Cross Cancer Institute, calls Wong's death "heartbreaking" and the result of "a problem that has been in the making for years."
Walker says with more complex patients and surging case loads, cancer care in Alberta has reached a critical point.
"It really is a crisis," he said. "It's a situation that needs to be addressed and needs to be addressed quickly."
An internal report on cancer care in the province presented to Alberta Health Services (AHS) in May found the number of new cancer referrals grew by 18 per cent between 2018 and 2023. It also reveals the number of patients seen outside the Alberta Health four-week target jumped by nearly 70 per cent over the last five years.
Wait times are also up. Five years ago, patients needing medical oncology care waited an average of 6.3 weeks for their first consult. In the first quarter of this year, the average wait time for it was 10.3 weeks.
"We really are in a deficit right now," Walker said.
In an emailed statement to CTV News Edmonton, Andrea Smith, press secretary for Alberta's health minister, said the provincial government "is committed to providing quality and accessible health care, including cancer prevention and screening, to all Albertans."
"Cancer programs across Canada are all struggling to address increased workload demands and competing to recruit oncology specialists in a highly competitive environment," said the statement.
"We are actively collaborating with AHS to recruit oncology specialists across Alberta."
An AHS spokesperson says they are considering improving access by extending clinic hours and says 17 new doctors were hired in the last year.
The AMA says more than half of those doctors are to replace oncologists who have retired or are moving away.
Words that offer little closure for Nguyen.
"I banked on a system to help him, and they ultimately failed him," she said. "I have to live with that for the rest of my life."
My Take…
Many of you who follow me in Alberta and throughout Canada, know that Alberta Health Services sabotaged my Cancer Therapy Program at Cross Cancer Institute (mentioned in this video) and conspired to murder 2456 of my Cancer patients, some of whose names I still remember and are documented in AHS Netcare and Connect Care, and at Court of King’s Bench in Edmonton.
AHS CEO Dr.Verna Yiu received authorization from Alberta Premier Rachel Notley and Alberta Minister of Health Sarah Hoffman in late 2015, to sabotage cutting edge Cancer Treatment Programs in Edmonton, Alberta and start murdering any Alberta Cancer patients who got in the way.
In 2016, my Targeted Radionuclide Therapy Program at Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton was sabotaged and in 2017 Dr.Robert Nordal’s cutting edge Gamma Knife Program was sabotaged at Tom Baker Cancer Centre in Calgary.
The AHS CancerCare Director Dr.Matthew Parliament, who sabotaged both programs on the orders of AHS CEO Dr.Verna Yiu, AHS Chief Medical Officer Francois Belanger and Premier Rachel Notley, was rewarded for murdering my cancer patients by being appointed the Lead on the building of the new $1.6 billion Calgary Cancer Centre. After I began exposing this in 2019 and 2020, he disappeared.
During the period 2016-2024, AHS severely harmed or murdered 2456 of my Cancer patients and spent over $10 million in legal fees trying to cover up these patient murders.
In the process, AHS bribed dozens of Officials and Judges, including College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta, Alberta Medical Association, Public Interest Commissioner, Alberta Human Rights Commissioner, Edmonton Police Chief Rod Knecht, Law Society of Alberta, University of Alberta President and Provost), and close to dozen Judges at Court of King’s Bench and Court of Appeal to cover up the Cancer patient murders.
Ultimately, my Cancer Program was copied and is being re-built in Vancouver with over $300 million in funding from Federal Government under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who personally gave the first $10 million check to BC Cancer Vice President Dr.Francois Benard to rebuild my Cancer Program, on Nov.1, 2018.
CONCLUSION:
My Cancer Program at Cross Cancer Institute was sabotaged and my 2456 Alberta Cancer patients were murdered by AHS Officials with the help of the College of Physicians, so that my program could be rebuild with $300 million in Federal funding from Justin Trudeau in Vancouver with, UBC, BC Cancer and TRIUMF.
The Federal Liberals wanted to control many cutting edge Cancer technologies and Alberta Premier Rachel Notley authorized AHS and AHS CEO Dr.Verna Yiu to start murdering Alberta Cancer patients in 2016 who stood in the way (and who were being treated with some of these cutting edge cancer treatments).
Tragically, UCP leader and Alberta Premier Jason Kenney continued to protect AHS and authorized millions of dollars in legal fees to help AHS cover up these patient murders. Jason Kenney knew what AHS had done, and decided it was in his best interest to cover-up AHS’ crimes against Alberta Cancer patients.
And Jason Kenney’s Education Minister Adriana Lagrage, now Health Minister under Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, continues to cover up the AHS patient murders as well.
I’ve been told Adriana Lagrange isn’t actually a Health Minister and doesn’t run the Health Ministry, that her bureaucrat Chief of Staff Nicole Williams does.
Maybe Nicole Williams needs a visit from the Edmonton Police. Albertans didn’t elect Nicole Williams or any other Ministry of Health bureaucrats to help AHS murder Cancer patients with impunity.
Edmonton resident, 41 year old Steven Wong was murdered by Alberta Health Services - they didn’t even let him speak to an Oncologist. He is one of many victims. Thousands of victims.
CTV is covering it now because the media and NDP will blame all of these Cancer patient murders on Alberta Premier Danielle Smith. And why not? They should.
Most Albertans now realize AHS is above the law and runs province. Many AHS and College Officials sexually assault and traffic children in their spare time, safe in the knowledge and certainty that they will never face any consequences.
The Edmonton Police Chief is bought and paid for. Most of Alberta’s Judges are bought and paid for by AHS.
All major law firms in Alberta have AHS as a client, so they can’t take any legal action or cases against AHS.
We live in a province run by an organized crime network of bureaucrats and lawyers.
Alberta Health Services continues to murder Cancer patients under Alberta Premier Danielle Smith - AHS was given green light to murder Cancer patients starting in 2016