Because her favorite type of cookies were not offered that day, a CHSLD patient made her attending nurse’s life “hell” by spreading the rumor that she had brutalized her, even going so far as to testify in a report on the show I Five years, criminal charges and an administrative investigation later, the professional was cleared, but she still has after-effects.
Johanne Charles’ life suddenly changed on May 29, 2019.
The nursing assistant with the spotless record worked evenings at Sainte-Anne Hospital in the West Island, a long-term care facility.
She is then responsible for a “rather difficult” beneficiary, but she is the only one who agrees to treat her. Because unlike several of her colleagues, she has never had any problems with the lady until now.
But in the evening, angry to learn that her favourite type of biscuits was not offered, the patient threw her glass of juice on the ground and told Johanne Charles that she was going to “make her pay”, according to a recent judgment of the Administrative Labour Tribunal (TAT).
How? the latter asks her. “I’ll throw myself on the ground and say it’s you,” the patient replies, threats that the nurse does not take seriously.
Until she returned from her break, when she learned that the beneficiary had a bump on her forehead and she accused Johanne Charles of having hurt her. She couldn’t believe it, she would tell the Court.
“She will pay”
When she returned to work the next day, the whole thing happened again. In the hallway, the patient shouted to everyone that the nurse had inflicted her injuries and that “she called her son and he was coming and she was going to pay and the worker was going to leave.” These words were accompanied by racist insults.
Things then quickly unfold.
Johanne Charles was suspended with pay for the purposes of the investigation. She was later contacted by the Montreal Police Department and charged with assault.
At the station, the police took his fingerprints and “talked to him at length about violence against the elderly.”
Then, the following winter, a team from the show Ibroadcast on TVA, arrives at her house. In their report, still available online, we see the nurse, her face blurred, refusing to answer the questions of the journalist who came to knock on her door.
The patient can also be heard describing the scene where the nurse allegedly pushed her into the wall.
“It’s scary to do what she did to me,” the lady said. “I don’t know what she had against me, I’ve never seen a case like that. […] “I was glad she was gone, she was really unpleasant,” she adds, standing next to her son.
The same ride
However, the criminal charges were eventually dropped a few months later when it was learned that the woman had tried to repeat the same act with another employee.
Johanne Charles’ ordeal is not over yet. More than a year after the incident with the beneficiary, in August 2020, she was reinstated at work, but in another establishment.
At the TAT, she says she feels “isolated and ostracized” when she realizes that colleagues recognize her and point fingers at her. She refuses to be alone with a beneficiary, for fear of being falsely accused again.
She finally consulted a doctor in July 2021 who put her on sick leave.
Then begins a legal saga to have his trauma recognized which will not end until May 2024.
An administrative judge then concluded that Johanne Charles had indeed suffered an occupational injury resulting from the incident with the patient.
The beginning of a series of traumatic experiences, and this, “while she knows she has done nothing.” “And all this for biscuits,” the magistrate emphasizes.
Through her lawyer, Johanne Charles declined our request for an interview.
Concerns about working conditions
The Interprofessional Health Federation of Quebec (FIQ), which represented her in court, says it does not actively record cases of professionals falsely accused of mistreatment.
“The FIQ often expresses concerns about the working conditions of its members, who frequently work in difficult contexts, marked by pressure and high workloads,” explains its spokesperson, Philippe Desjardins.
“Protection against false accusations lies in improving working conditions,” adds Philippe Desjardins, spokesperson for the FIQ.
“For confidentiality reasons, we do not comment on our employees’ files,” said a spokesperson for the CIUSSS de l’Ouest-de-l’Île-de-Montréal, which oversees Sainte-Anne Hospital, Hélène Bergeron-Gamache.
“It should be noted that when an investigation is launched due to allegations of violence, the employee targeted by the allegations is suspended while the events are being investigated. The safety of residents is the priority of the CIUSSS de l’Ouest-de-l’Île-de-Montréal,” she adds.