She loved him like a father.

So when Jessica Cormier's grandfather Robert Skingley fell ill while wintering in Myrtle Beach, she wanted him home as soon as possible.

Unfortunately that didn't happen and now Cormier wants the rules around re-patriating patients changed.

"He was like a dad to me. My father passed away when I was young, so he sort of stepped into that role," says Cormier.

So on March 12th when "Poppa" as everyone in her family knew him, contracted West Nile Virus and fell gravely ill, they wanted him home.

Not just to be by his side but to get him into see a specialist.

The problem was, Ontario didn't seem to want him.

"It started with the insurance company calling through and they kept telling us there wasn't a bed available and that they were trying everything they could. So the family got on the phone then and we got the same answer. That he had to be within his catchment area which for us was Kincardine or Owen Sound, otherwise they would refuse to transfer him anywhere else," says Cormier.

Skingley would spend 23 days in healthcare limbo.

The U.S. hospital was simply keeping him alive, not referring him to an American specialist as they waited for a bed in Owen Sound's ICU to open up.

The 76 year old wouldn't return home until April 3, dying in hospital April 10.

"Ultimately we were glad to be with him when he passed away but at the same time you wonder, what if? We don't know what would have happened if we got him home sooner and he saw a specialist. Or even how much he would have improved if he had his family's support," says Cormier.

Ontario Health Minister Eric Hoskins says that unless they clearly have no beds available, Ontario hospitals are not to refuse treatment to anyone based upon geography.

Although that's the word from the top, Cormier says as far as she knows nothing has changed for Ontario bound patients.

"It's not good enough to say it shouldn't be that way. We would like to see some change. We're ready to push as long as it takes to make sure this doesn't happen to other families," she says.

Cormier has started an online petition to remove the catchment area restrictions on patient re-repatriation in Ontario.