Coroner Géhane Kamel’s report made public on Monday claimed the first victim. The President and CEO of the CIUSSS de l’Ouest-de-l’île-de-Montréal, Lynne McVey, announces that she will be stepping down at the end of her term next July.
Severely damaged by the coroner’s report on the health crisis in CHSLDs, the CIUSSS headed by Ms. McVey was responsible for the CHSLD Herron, which was to become the symbol of the slippages in the management of the pandemic.
In her report, coroner Kamel recalled that when Prime Minister François Legault announced that the CHSLD would be placed under guardianship, he had said that the CIUSSS had only had access to medical records the day before and that c It was at this time that the authorities had learned of the death of 31 residents. However, she wrote, “in fact, the medical records have always been accessible and the late count of deaths was not a manipulation attributable to the CHSLD Herron, but rather the fact of negligence relating more to the chaos inherent in the situation and the disorganization of the CIUSSS management team”.
Me Kamel emphasized that this conclusion was necessary since “the vast majority of deaths occurred when the CIUSSS was already assuming the clinical management of the CHSLD”.
An “unsightly” reprimand
She also called it “disgraceful” that Ms. McVey blamed the CHSLD for transferring patients to the hospital when “this gesture made the most sense if we wanted these residents to have a chance to recover. get out “.
Coroner Kamel also questioned the merits of Lynne McVey’s call to 9-1-1 on April 11, 2020 to report a situation of potential negligence at the CHSLD Herron “since the situation was alarming from March 29 2020”, date on which the Ministry of Health and Social Services had asked the CIUSSS to “take charge of the CHSLD”.
In a terse institutional press release, the CIUSSS simply states that “the President and Chief Executive Officer paid tribute to the CIUSSS teams who, day after day, for the past two years have continued to respond without ever failing with extraordinary courage and determination. She also thanks the Minister and his team for their support throughout the pandemic. »
The press release adds that “the general management of the CIUSSS is currently taking note of the coroner’s report and its recommendations and undertakes to put them in place for the safety and well-being of its users and residents”.
It is Ms. McVey’s deputy, Najia Hachimi-Idrissi, who will act as interim until a new CEO takes office.