An investigation has been launched into why it took seven hours on a normal day for an emergency room doctor to see an elderly Nanaimo, B.C. man who died waiting for care.

"They did nothing," Cheryle Cook said Tuesday of the final hours of her father George Cook's life.

She pushed for the investigation.

On April 13, the 88-year-old Cook was taken from his senior's home to Nanaimo Regional General Hospital suffering from pneumonia.

When Cheryle arrived, she found him laying on a cot in a hallway near a door.

"And when I got there, he had nothing on his feet, nothing on his shoulders or arms," she told CTV Vancouver. "And he was very cold."

Cheryle brought him blankets and shielded his face from the draft.

Twice a nurse walked by, but did nothing, according to Cheryle.

"She said, 'I know you're there,' and just kept walking," she said.

When a doctor finally saw George, he pronounced him dead three minutes later.

"I'll never forget his face," Cheryle said through tears. "If I can save one more person from going through that ..."

Her father was a proud man and a hard worker, and he died without dignity, she said.

CTV Vancouver's Renu Bakshi said it wasn't an unusually busy day at the hospital's emergency room, with about 120 to 150 cases.

"What I know from this case is there was some tragic disrespect of an elderly man at end of life," B.C. Health Minister George Abbot told reporters in Victoria.

The Vancouver Island Health Authority said it sympathized with the family and hoped to have the investigation complete by the end of the week, Bakshi said.

Two months ago, the hospital was given a million-dollar budget boost to improve ER staffing, she said.

Vancouver ER doctors

On the mainland, Dr. Sheldon Glazer of Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster told CTV Vancouver the problem in his hospital is a lack of beds.

"Yes, there have been deaths in our emergency rooms because of waits," he said.

Dr. Tony Taylor of the Fraser Health Authority said ER crowding is a fact.

As to whether it was causing deaths, "I'm not aware of any deaths that have occurred in the ER in the last several years," he said.

A few weeks ago, the majority of ER doctors at Vancouver General Hospital issued a letter to patients calling conditions "deplorable," saying overcrowding was leading to "poor and undignified care."

However, similar complaints could be found from ER doctors five years ago. Here's what one ER doctor said back then: "It's very difficult when you have patients lined up in the hallways on stretchers and they're calling out to help them. They may be vomiting and in pain, having a heart attack or maybe even a stroke and yet because of lack of beds, we cannot treat them."

Taylor responded: "If the issues were easily solved, I think there would be people jumping up saying, 'Pick our solutions'. That's not occurring. It's a complex problem requiring complex solutions."

In B.C.'s legislature, the NDP and Liberals sniped at each other over which party was responsible for B.C.'s health care problems.

CTV Vancouver's Jim Beatty reported that at Royal Columbian hospital, the budget has jumped more than 40 per cent in the past five years, and yet the ER situation remains unresolved.

"Emergency room visitation tended to be a higher growth percentage than our actual growth percentages," Abbott said. "And I think it's because of the aging of our society."

With reports from CTV Vancouver's Renu Bakshi, Rob Brown and Jim Beatty