Whether she suffered from Lyme disease or not, young Amélie Champagne could have been better supported by the health network, especially on a psychological level, coroner Julie-Kim Godin ruled in a report made public on Wednesday.
“There have been several opportunities to support her and take charge of her mental well-being […] “were missed,” the coroner wrote in a sixty-page report.
His journey through the health system “sadly illustrates the phenomenon of revolving doors in Quebec’s psychiatric emergency rooms and the adverse effects that result from it.”
Amélie Champagne, 22, took her own life in September 2022. She was well known for her fight to have the effects of Lyme disease recognized.
Multiple diagnoses
However, in her report, the coroner emphasizes that it is not up to her to establish whether or not the young woman suffered from this illness.
However, “the fact that MmWhether Champagne had Lyme disease or not does not change the cause of her death, my findings, or my recommendations.”
The young woman, she writes, received different diagnoses in her medical journey starting in adolescence. “Some told her she didn’t have Lyme disease, while others told her the opposite.”
For years, she suffered from dizziness, symptoms similar to vestibular syndrome, headaches, vision problems, sensitivity to light, repeated urinary tract infections, muscle pain and numbness.
“Among his symptoms were probably a picture of anxiety and emotional suffering,” the coroner concluded at the end of her investigation.
Many professionals, but poor monitoring
Amélie Champagne met with a great many professionals during her journey, particularly in the days leading up to her death. However, the coroner deplores the fact that she was allowed to leave two hospitals without ensuring that she was being monitored. The Douglas Institute and the Hôtel-Dieu de Sherbrooke did not offer her a “safe discharge,” she noted.
“Psychiatry teams must have known (or should have known) that it was unrealistic to hope for rapid or urgent care for an acute or crisis situation by only sending a form by fax to a GASMA [le guichet d’accès en santé mentale]moreover, outside of business hours,” she writes about the Hôtel-Dieu.
“Once the form was sent, we seemed to have abdicated our responsibility for what was going to happen to Mr.me Champagne. […] It is as if in a relay race, a runner puts the baton (the baton) on the ground without worrying about passing it on usefully to his teammate and about the success of the race.
In total, the coroner made 19 recommendations, many of which were aimed at the Ministry of Health and the Integrated Health and Social Services Centres (CISSS).
She also asked the College of Physicians to examine the actions taken by a naturopath consulted by Amélie Champagne and to look into the practices of private clinics specializing in Lyme disease which treated the young woman.
Asked to comment, the Minister responsible for Social Services, Lionel Carmant, said his government was correcting its ways of doing things to guarantee “safe discharges.” “Our brief community support teams are installed in 14 establishments,” he said. “It’s not everywhere. We’re working on it.”
Need help?
To obtain help regarding your mental health or that of a loved one, do not hesitate to contact the Info-Social 811 service.
Do not hesitate to call the Quebec Suicide Prevention Line: 1 866 CALL (1 866 277-3553).