Updated: 4:15 pm MST.Alberta NDP leader Rachel Notley and her MLAs attacked Jason Kenney and the Alberta government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in the wake of a 14-year-old boy’s death due to terminal brain cancer..On Tuesday, Simone Spitzer took to Facebook to call out Alberta Health for labelling her younger brother Nathanael’s death COVID-related..Nathanael was, in fact, already dying of Stage 4 brain cancer in palliative care, but tested positive for COVID-19 days before his expected death..The Spitzer family was not only devastated by their loss, but said they were shocked Nathanael’s death was used to add to Alberta Health’s COVID-19 numbers as the youngest COVID-19 death to date, and called it “fake news” in a Tuesday Facebook post..NDP leader Rachel Notley used the opportunity to criticize the UCP and Albert Health on Twitter for even mentioning there were “pre-existing conditions” in Nathanael’s death..“Telling their loved ones that there were other health complications that contributed to their death offers no comfort whatsoever,” tweeted Notley..“No matter what ‘pre-existing conditions’ they had, this child died during a fourth wave that was preventable. This shouldn’t have happened. We need to know what will be done to stop it from happening again.”.But it was in fact, ‘pre-existing conditions’ that was responsible for the death of Nathaneal Spitzer, not COVID-19..Despite this, other NDP MLAs joined the fray attacking the government for mentioning that there were any pre-existing conditions involved in the death..Thomas Dang, the NDP MLA for Edmonton-South followed, tweeting: “For the 12% of us in Alberta who have asthma, downplaying the death of a 14-year-old for comorbidities is the opposite of comforting. This is a life snuffed short. It’s a tragedy and a disaster.”.NDP MLA for Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood, Janis Irwin, also tweeted: “I can’t stop thinking about this. A family is grieving the loss of their child in a preventable fourth wave. I don’t care what other medical conditions this child had. They are gone. We need to all fight for better. This cannot happen again.”.Irwin also retweeted a post from Dr. Quentin Durand-Moreau in the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Medicine..“I am disheartened by this,” the tweet says in reference to Hinshaw’s mention of the 14-year-old boy’s “complex, pre-existing condition that played a role in their death.”.“But I don’t understand why we persist in mentioning the ‘pre-existing condition’: is COVID involved (y/n), and if yes, it was therefore an avoidable death with better public health policies. Comorbidities do not matter.”.The Western Standard spoke with Simone Spitzer, the sister of Nathanael who died of brain cancer last week..“Thank you for trying to get the truth out there with us,” she said..Spitzer shared the link to a GoFundMe page the family set up “In loving memory of Nathanael Spitzer.”.The page mentions Nathanael’s (Nati’s) fight with brain cancer that led to his untimely death on October 7..“Nati was quite the entertainer, always quick with a smile, fast with a joke and will be deeply missed by his family and friends,” the Spitzer family shared on the page..The page was created by siblings of Nathanael to assist their parents with “the cost of the funeral and the financial toll this had on them.”.The donation option has since been disabled as Spitzer told the Wester Standard the family had “reached our goal” for the funeral costs..The Western Standard reached out to Alberta Health for comment on the accusations from the family of Nathanael’s death being falsely counted as a COVID death, but has yet to get a response as of publishing..Melanie Risdon is a reporter with the Western Standard.,.mrisdon@westernstandardonline.com
