TUKTOYAKTUK - Paul Voudrach is a well-known figure in Tuktoyaktuk, whose family has suffered terrible tragedies in the past.

In April of 2001, his son John was killed on the ice road alongside James Gruben, when their pickup truck collided with a gravel truck.

Norma Voudrach, seen here with husband Paul, went into Stanton Territorial Hospital as a healthy person with a broken wrist. Now, the community of Tuktoyaktuk is mourning her death. - NNSL file photo

Now, his family is mourning the sudden death of his wife Norma Voudrach, who died in Yellowknife's Stanton Territorial hospital during routine surgery Feb. 19

Norma Voudrach was 56, and the mother of 10 children.

As Paul Voudrach remembers, she had broken her wrist on Feb. 2 outside the Tuktoyaktuk health centre, after slipping on some ice.

When the break proved complicated, she was sent to Yellowknife's Stanton Territorial Hospital, to have metal rods installed in her arm.

However, at some point in the surgery, something went terribly wrong.

Paul Voudrach said his wife died on the operating table, perhaps of a heart failure, after her lungs filled with fluid and doctors were unable to save her.

While an autopsy has been performed on the body, Voudrach said he believes the cause might be connected to a cup of coffee, which she drank minutes before the operation.

While patients are usually denied food and drink 12 hours before surgery - to prevent them from asphyxiation under anesthesia - Voudrach said his wife was not expecting surgery on Feb. 19.

"She was well under the expectation that her operation was going to be on Tuesday, because she was just going in for a pre-op appointment Monday," he said.

"She had been drinking coffee a few minutes before her appointment, and although she advised the doctors of this, they still went ahead with the surgery under anaesthetic," he said.

According to Voudrach, doctors told him his wife's death was caused by bile from her stomach regurgitating into her lungs.

When doctors tried to clear them, he said, Norma died of cardiac arrest.

Faced with such a tragic and unexpected death, Voudrach said the community of Tuktoyaktuk has rallied to help his family.

When the funeral happened on Feb. 28, Voudrach said it was held at the hamlet's multipurpose building Kitti Hall, because the church could not hold all the mourners.

"We had a lot of people calling and sending their condolences from right across Canada," he added.

He also said family members have been helping each other in this difficult time.

"We've always been a close family, but we've had to bond closer than before," he said.

Chief corner of the NWT Percy Kinney said it's too early to determine what happened.

He said lab work is still being done in Edmonton, and a final conclusion is expected in 10 to 12 weeks.

"We sent her out for postmortem, and we've got some preliminary results. We're continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death," he said.

Asked whether a cup of coffee could contribute to a person's death in the manner Voudrach described, Kinney declined to comment, saying he'd wait for the autopsy results.

"I think it's a bit early at this point, these are preliminary findings, and we'll see what the ultimate findings are at the end of the day. It will either answer the questions we have or bring up more," he said.

On March 5, Voudrach said he has hired a lawyer from Alberta, and intends to explore options of launching a lawsuit, possibly against Stanton Territorial Hospital.

While the case is still taking shape, he said he is mostly looking for answers from hospital management.

"I'm not going to stop, I'm going to go ahead, because no one has contacted me, no one has given me information, nobody has even said they're sorry, other than the doctor that told me what happened," he said.

He added that the terms of the lawsuit have not been discussed yet.

"I'm not looking for money, money is not the answer because you can get all the money in the world, and it's not going to bring my wife back. "All I want is for someone to come and tell me what happened. What really caused her to die? She was a healthy lady, she wasn't sick," he said.

Representatives from Stanton Territorial Hospital, Nunakput MLA Calvin Pokiak and Minister of Health and Social Services Floyd Roland could not be reached as of press time.