Two patients died in two days in the emergency room of the Châteauguay hospital last week while waiting to be treated by a doctor in a context of record traffic and endless waiting.
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“It’s major,” reacts a hospital employee on condition of anonymity, who describes the situation as “horrible”. It’s scary. The emergency room staff have the responsibility for these patients on their shoulders.”
For several days now, emergencies have been overflowing in Quebec, particularly due to an outbreak of respiratory viruses. At Anna-Laberge Hospital, the worst scenario materialized for two patients who died without seeing a doctor, according to our sources.
He had been waiting for 12 hours
Last Wednesday, an elderly patient died in the evening after losing consciousness and going into cardiac arrest. He had been waiting for 12 hours for a stomach ache. According to our information, it had been classified priority 3 (P3).
Normally, these cases must be seen within 30 minutes. But last week, the P3s were seen within 24 hours, confirms an employee. The patient had been seen in triage more than once, and was stable.
“If he had been seen earlier, would we have saved him?” asks the employee, who does not have the answer.
The next day, another patient who had been placed on a stretcher while waiting to be seen by a doctor died. He had breathing problems, we were told.
For many employees, these two deaths are unfortunately not that surprising, but they add additional stress.
“We’ve been crying out for help for years, there’s something blocking us somewhere,” said one of them.
For its part, the Integrated Health and Social Services Center (CISSS) of Montérégie-Ouest responded by email that it takes these situations “very seriously” and offers its condolences to the families. However, we refuse to give details of the deaths.
“Although they [ces situations] took place in this context of exceptional traffic, the fact remains that they in no way represent the quality of service that we wish to offer,” writes Jade St-Jean, communications manager.
A record volume
On average, 50 ambulances per day showed up at the emergency room last week, or 10 more than the average, underlines the CISSS. Last Monday, there was even a record 65. Due to a broken scanner at the Salaberry-de-Valleyfield hospital, several patients were also transferred to Châteauguay.
The two deaths are currently the subject of an investigation internally and at the Coroner’s Office, confirms the CISSS. Meetings are planned in the short term with the Ministry of Health and Social Services to find ways to reduce the pressure. The Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, even visited the site on Sunday.
“The facts reported are extremely worrying,” writes the minister’s office.
Additional beds have also been opened in the day medicine department, and non-priority patients are being referred to medical clinics.
According to the Association of Emergency Medicine Specialists of Quebec, emergency room traffic is becoming unsustainable in several places.
“At 200% for two or three days, we can tougher. But now, it’s been going on for two, three weeks. We’re sure we’re going to miss it [des patients]. The doctors are nervous. […] At the moment, it is one of the worst jobs in Quebec to do triage for nurses,” underlines the president of the association, Dr. Gilbert Boucher.
The Anna-Laberge emergency in figures yesterday
- 191% ridership rate
- 32 stretchers planned
- 61 patients on stretchers
- 20 patients have been waiting for more than 48 hours (the target is 0)
Source: Health index