A 44-year-old Indian-origin man has died of suspected cardiac arrest after waiting for more than eight hours for treatment in a hospital emergency room, according to a media report.

Prashant Sreekumar began experiencing severe chest pains while at work on December 22, Global News reported on Wednesday. A client drove him to Grey Nuns Hospital in southeast Edmonton, where he was checked in at triage before taking a seat in the waiting room.

His father, Kumar Sreekumar, soon arrived.

“He told me, ‘Papa, I cannot bear the pain,'” Kumar said.

Kumar added that his son told him and hospital staff that the pain was a 15 out of 10.

An electrocardiogram (ECG) was performed to check his heart’s function, but the family said Prashant was told there was nothing of significance and instructed to continue waiting. Staff also offered him some Tylenol for the pain.

He waited — and waited some more.

Kumar said that over time, nurses would check Prashant’s blood pressure.

“It went up, up, and up. To me, it was through the roof.”

More than eight hours passed before Prashant was finally called into the treatment area.

“After sitting maybe 10 seconds, he looked at me, he got up and put his hand on his chest and just crashed,” Kumar said.

Nurses called for help, but it was too late. Prashant died of an apparent cardiac arrest, the report added.

He leaves behind his wife and three children, aged three, 10, and 14. The family, who loved to travel together, described Prashant as a “goofball” with his kids.

“He was for his family, for his kids, he was so nice. Anybody who talked to him said, ‘We don’t know a better [person] than him,'” Kumar said.

Family and friends are seeking answers about how a man with severe chest pain could fall through the cracks in such a shocking way.

Family friend Varinder Bhullar, who used Prashant’s accounting services, called it a huge loss for the community and said he is devastated.

“We expect better from the hospital and health-care system,” Bhullar said.

Grey Nuns Hospital is run by Covenant Health. In an email to Global News, the organisation said it would not comment on specifics surrounding patient care due to privacy, but confirmed the case is under review by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

“We offer our sympathy to the patient’s family and friends. There is nothing more important than the safety and care of our patients and staff,” the statement said.

As the family tries to remember Prashant for the joy he brought them, they say they will always be haunted by how he died — in pain, in a hospital, without ever seeing a doctor.

“They took my baby for nothing. For nothing,” Kumar said.