Family of woman found dead on Lakeshore ER floor demands investigation into ‘possible cover-up’ by hospital

The family of an 86-year-old woman found dead on the floor of a West Island hospital is applauding the Quebec government for launching an independent investigation into deaths at the Lakeshore General’s ER.

Candida Macarine was found dead at Lakeshore on Feb. 27, 2021, one day after being admitted to the hospital due to respiratory distress.

A September 2022 coroner’s report said Macarine likely died naturally of a heart attack. It stopped short of alleging neglect by staff.

Two months later, the Quebec coroner’s office rejected a request by Macarine’s family to reopen the investigation. The family claimed the coroner failed to correctly look at all the medical information at her disposal.

“What preoccupies me is that you might want to do an inquiry, but apparently there were so many whistle blowing, there were so many denunciations at the ministry of the very I thought nothing was done So to me, you might need an inquiry, but if some people did not do their job, I would like some sanctions,” said Paul Brunet, patients advocate.

“We need to put some authority and accountability in the work we do and the work people do, otherwise, we will continue launching other inquiries and wanting things to get better and not anymore. Not anymore, you know, violence and total negligence like an occurring at and this misuse. But it’s still happening.”

Now the family is pleased to see the Quebec government launch an independent investigation into the emergency room, following a report by the Montreal Gazette that suggested the Lakeshore Hospital’s ER has seen an increasing number of potentially preventable patient deaths over the last four years.

“Her family wants the investigation to look into possible cover-up by hospital and CIUSSS administrators,” said the Centre for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRARR) in a statement.

“What the family wants to look at is the way that the hospital handles families’ request, manage the information and in many cases seems to have been participating in some sort of effort not to be very transparent to the family whose members have died,” said Fo Niemi, co-founder and executive director of CRARR.

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CRARR says the latest information “revealed not only a pattern of highly questionable treatments of patients in ER, but also evasive answers and a highly problematic lack of explanations given by the hospital.”

The family says it wants an independent investigation into Macarine’s death.

“They also want the independent investigation to determine who should be held liable for their mother’s death. They demand transparency and accountability,” added Niemi.