Patients at Verdun Hospital ER with expired health insurance cards forced to pay $500 deposit
Posted September 22, 2023 12:27 pm.
Last Updated September 22, 2023 1:28 pm.
The emergency rooms at Verdun hospital requires a mandatory deposit of $500 for patients without an up-to-date health insurance card, according to information obtained by La Presse at an arbitration decision revealed last week.
An arbitration decision last week provided the details of the situation in the ER that took place in 2019. The requirement of a $500 deposit, however, is still in force. La Presse journalists who called the Verdun Hospital ER on Thursday were told as much.
Nurse suspended
The arbitrator looked into the suspension and dismissal imposed that year on a nurse. He had tried to convince a man who arrived by ambulance with an expired card to pay the deposit or go to the CLSC to obtain a temporary card. Otherwise he risked not being seen by a doctor.
The patient involved in the case, unable to pay, left the emergency room before seeing a doctor. He returned a few hours later by ambulance, his condition requiring urgent surgery.
The nurse was suspended for 20 days, then fired following an evaluation of his work.
In a long decision, however, the grievance arbitrator canceled the nurse’s dismissal, reduced his suspension and criticized the Hospital’s decision.
The arbitrator stated that the nurse was simply following directives, and when he explained to the user that he must pay a deposit of $500 to access care, he was not lying: he was only stating the applicable rule.
The Verdun hospital is part of the CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l’Île-de-Montréal, which issued a statement to La Presse in reaction to these revelations, stating the 2019 incident is “regrettable” and “not representative” of the way they welcome their patients at Verdun Hospital or in other of their establishments.
“All patients will receive the care required according to the severity of their condition, without discrimination based on their means of payment,’ reads the statement. “Patients receive the required health care, even if they do not give a deposit upon arrival at the emergency room.”
