Tragic Incident Sparks Legal Action Against Telus
A national telecom provider based in Vancouver, Telus, is now facing a lawsuit following the tragic death of a man from Manitoba who suffered a heart attack during a 911 service outage. The family claims that the outage played a significant role in his untimely passing.
The Heartbreaking Event
Dean Switzer experienced a fatal heart attack at his residence in Fisher Branch, Manitoba, on March 23, 2025. His spouse and nearby residents—who were all customers of Telus—made approximately twenty attempts to reach 911 for help. However,according to legal documents submitted to Manitoba’s Court of King’s Bench,none of these calls went thru.
As reported by CTV News, each call was met with an automated message indicating that the call could not be completed and advising callers to hang up and try again later. For about forty-five minutes, Switzer's neighbors performed CPR while desperately trying to connect with emergency services. Eventually, one neighbor managed to reach out to an RCMP officer who then dispatched an ambulance. Sadly,by the time help arrived,switzer had already been pronounced dead.
Telus Responds: Blame Game Begins
Telus acknowledged that there was indeed an outage lasting over thirty-eight hours between March 22 and March 24 during which some customers were unable to contact emergency services like 911. However, they shifted responsibility onto Bell Canada—the operator responsible for manitoba's 911 network—claiming that issues within Bell’s system caused the failure of emergency lines. They stated that a technician sent out for inquiry did not inform higher management about how it affected the critical service.
Bell has countered this assertion by stating that Telus was uniquely unable to make emergency calls on the night when Switzer passed away.
The Family's Claims Against Telus
The legal claim argues that if timely medical assistance had been available through proper access to 911 services,dean Switzer might have survived his heart attack. It accuses Telus of failing its duty by not providing consistent access to emergency services and lacking timely communication regarding outages or systems designed for notifying customers about such critical failures. the family is seeking damages which include funeral expenses among other costs related directly or indirectly due to this incident.
A Statement from Telus
“We understand the immense sorrow felt by Mr. Switzer’s family,” said a representative from Telus in response shared with CTV News. “Providing reliable access to 911 is our top priority as a telecommunications company; we have implemented various measures aimed at improving our network resilience and refining our processes so we can prevent future disruptions.”
The Road Ahead: Unresolved Allegations
notably these allegations remain unproven in court as both parties prepare their cases moving forward.
This situation raises serious questions about accountability among telecom providers when it comes down to life-and-death scenarios involving essential services like emergency response systems.
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