April 7, 2017 update: The Interior Health Authority says it has reviewed Rajindar Joneja's case and determined that the appropriate protocols were followed and staff "responded in a highly professional and skillful manner." Interior Health said his condition was such that nothing could have been done to prevent his death.

The widow of a retired doctor who died in the waiting room of the hospital where he worked for decades is seeking improvements to the medical system in B.C.'s Interior.

Janice Joneja, also a doctor, took her husband to the emergency room at Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops on March 12, when the former neurologist and psychiatrist said he was having chest pain.

Rajindar Joneja was in distress, but was able to tell the triage nurse a detailed medical history which included cancer and congestive heart failure.

His wife told CTV Vancouver's St. John Alexander that the nurse took his blood pressure, gave him two aspirin and told him to wait in the waiting room. She said they were told they'd be seen shortly.

"I wheeled him into the waiting room, put his wheelchair at the wall, sat beside him, and very quickly it was obvious that he was really in acute distress," Janice recalled Tuesday. She said his cardiac arrest was within five minutes of leaving the nurse.

Realizing they needed urgent care, she got the attention of a security guard and asked him to get a nurse or doctor immediately.

"I went back to my husband, I held him and said, 'I'm with you, I'm here,' and he drew his last breath in my arms."

By that time, she said, staff members were aware of the emergency. Medical personnel wheeled Rajindar into a room and attempted to resuscitate him, but his life could not be saved. He died in the hospital where he'd worked since 1968.

Janice Joneja

Janice then called her daughter and son to the hospital, and the family sat next to Rajindar for seven hours.

"I did not leave him for a minute," she said of their final hours together.

At the time, she said, she didn't feel anger, frustration or any other strong emotions: "It is numbness and acceptance."

But just over a week later, she now feels that he should have received immediate care, and sees his death as proof that more training is needed in Kamloops.

"There needs to be a great deal of improvement in the facilities in Kamloops, so that no other family has to go through the same traumatic experience," she said.

Janice said her husband, who told staff he had a history of heart problems, should have received more immediate care than being handed two pills and sent back to the waiting room. She said he should have been taken into a trauma room, given a bed, or better yet, brought to a facility equipped to handle cardiac issues.

"I know that people will pass away, they will die immediately as my husband did, but that isn't the point," she said.

The bigger problem is that there are no facilities in Kamloops that specialize in heart issues, cancer, or other areas where care may be urgent. The closest resources are in Kelowna, a three-hour drive away.

"Literally people die en route to Kelowna. That should not be happening in Kamloops, it should not," she said.

Janice Joneja

Janice hopes that Rajindar's death will prove that there is a need for a cardiac clinic in Kamloops, and said that attempts to bring in specialists without better facilities would be unsuccessful.

"You cannot expect a physician, surgeon, whomever, to come to a place like Kamloops when they spend years and years in study, and thousands in fees, in the start of their career or even halfway through their career. It is not a place that will look very good on a resume… It isn't a place that will attract the medical personnel," she said.

Although she doesn't believe that her husband's life necessarily would have been saved, having those facilities would have meant he would get attention immediately.

"Nothing probably could have been done to change the outcome. I recognize that, it's obvious. But he would have had his end-of-life care that would have been solace for him, for me and for my family," she said.

In addition to his death, Rajindar's life also served as an example of a need for specialized care in the Interior, Janice said.

He moved to Kamloops in the late 1960s as the only neurologist in the Interior, and one of only two psychiatrists. He was always on-call, and didn't have anyone else to send his patients to.

"He didn't have much of a family life, and our children, therefore, were deprived of their father," she said.

Janice and Rajindar Joneja

Janice has written an open letter to the hospital and Health Minister Terry Lake, saying that the triage nurse should have taken more immediate steps. She said she hopes the case prompts changes in the Canadian medical system.

She wrote that the scene has been replaying in her mind constantly since that day, and that she knows it will continue to do so for a long time.

"No-one, regardless of their position, should pass from this life in such traumatic, public, and obviously avoidable circumstances," she wrote.

She ended the letter urging hospital staff and the ministry to take steps to ensure the situation never happens again.

In a statement, the Interior Health Authority said it's reviewing the concerns raised about care provided during Rajindar's final moments.

"We know this is a difficult time for the family," an executive director for acute services said.

With a report from CTV Vancouver's St. John Alexander