Ontario couple whose teenage son died after 8-hour wait in ER calls for law reform

Family of Finlay van der Werken, 16, wants maximum emergency room wait times for children

Rianna Lim · The Canadian Press · Posted: Aug 22, 2025 9:22 PM EDT | Last Updated: August 23

Finlay van der Werken, pictured here, was diagnosed with hypoxia and pneumonia caused by sepsis after waiting for hours at Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital in February last year. He was transferred to SickKids Hospital, where he was put on machines to take over the functions of his heart, lungs and kidneys. He died in hospital. (Hazel van der Werken /The Canadian Press)

An Ontario family is calling on the provincial government to introduce legislation that would set maximum emergency room wait times for children after their teenage son died following an eight-hour wait for a doctor in a hospital last year.

GJ and Hazel van der Werken, of Burlington, Ont., said their 16-year-old son, Finlay, had a few days of mild illness and was suffering from migraines before his condition began to worsen. Hazel rushed him to Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital on Feb. 7, 2024, she said.

"We go through to the normal emergency department which was filled with a lot of people, just the whole corridor was just full of people in chairs," Hazel recalled in an interview Thursday. "That was where Finlay was calling out in pain."

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