A Lachine family is accusing Urgences Santé and the Lachine General Hospital of negligence and incompetence in the case of a 27-year-old man who died Sunday in hospital after collapsing during a soccer game.

Clarck Cadet was videotaping the soccer game at the Catalogna Soccerplexe in Lachine when one of the players, his friend Troy Elva, known as Nickey, collapsed. Cadet said it took as long as 15 to 20 minutes for the ambulance to arrive and then another 5 to 10 minutes for technicians to set up the equipment, realizing they didn't have the paddles for the defibrillator and had to go back to the truck to get some.

Cadet said they then followed the ambulance to the hospital, going through red lights and stop signs when the ambulance driver suddenly stopped, got out and told them they weren't an ambulance and not to drive so recklessly.

"We're losing valuable minutes of a man's life while they sit here and try to lecture me and scold me about driving," Cadet told CJAD News.

Elva was pronounced dead at the hospital. Cadet said the family is also upset because the doctor told the family they would stop resuscitation efforts without consulting them or giving them any options.

MUHC spokesman Ian Popple said in an email that in general, it's a medical decision based on specific patient situations upon arrival in the emergency ward and that care is discussed with patients and family when possible and where appropriate for admitted patients.

Urgences Santé said it would look into the matter.

Cadet said the whole situation was badly handled and based on incompetence.

"If they would have been more precise with their timing in getting there on time, if they had been better equipped, the outcome would have been different."

Photo: Clarck Cadet