It took 35 minutes and three 911 calls before emergency workers began rescue efforts for a man dying of a heart attack in the lobby of a downtown apartment building, a coroner’s inquest heard Tuesday.

The first two 911 calls were assigned a low priority, even though James Hearst, 59, had a history of serious heart problems, government lawyer Stefania Fericean said in her opening remarks at an inquest into Hearst’s death.

She noted that paramedics arrived earlier on the evening of June 25, 2009, but chose to stand by around the corner from his Alexander St. apartment building and wait for a police escort while a security guard and passersby tried unsuccessfully to save Hearst.

The first two 911 calls weren’t classed as urgent by a dispatcher, Fericean said. Finally, half an hour after Hearst’s collapse, the call was upgraded to urgent.

A key question is whether a strike by emergency workers at the time of Hearst’s death affected his medical care.

The ambulance service was operating at 75 per cent of its usual staffing level, due to a strike by the paramedic’s union, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).

After a partly successful legal challenge by CUPE Local 416, which represents paramedics, the inquest won’t go into whether ambulance workers should have the right to strike.

Dr. James Edwards, regional supervising coroner for Toronto East, said there was no suggestion that Hearst might have been an illicit drug user or the victim of foul play or an unhealthy lifestyle.

“There was no evidence of anything untoward,” Edwards testified.

Edwards noted that Hearst, who worked as a transportation broker, had a heart attack in 2004, and that he followed a doctor’s advice to quit smoking and take medication.

City of Toronto lawyer Robert Baldwin said in an interview outside court that the city now has a labour agreement that calls for an 85 per cent staffing level by paramedics in the event of a labour disruption.

Hearst’s partner, Alejandro Martinez, said in an interview that he needs answers, even though nothing can bring Hearst back.

“Unfortunately I wasn’t able to be with him for his last moments,” Martinez said. “So far, I haven’t been able to get anybody to give me clear answers of what happened. … Why it took so long for responders.”

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David Ostrihon, a friend who said Hearst “was a big part of my life,” said he also wants to know if the strike played a part in the death.

The court decision last year on the CUPE legal challenge means the inquest can examine whether the strike hurt delivery of medical services to Hearst, but it can’t dig into broader topics such as the right to strike.