Patient dies in hospital bathroom: “This kind of mistake happens,” says Health Minister Dubé

When asked on Thursday about the death of a 73-year-old woman in a Joliette emergency department bathroom, Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé replied, “this kind of error happens.”

France Boisclair died of an aneurysm on Aug. 11 after waiting 17 hours in the emergency room without seeing a single doctor, Le Journal de Montréal reported after reading the coroner’s report.

During question period on Thursday, while responding to Liberal health critic André Fortin, Dubé said he had read the report.

 He explained that “it’s an issue of triage and management.”

“The nurse (…) will give a priority level. (…) In this case, it would seem, according to the initial data we have, that there has been a diagnostic error in terms of priority. It’s very unfortunate,” said Dubé. “This kind of error does happen. We shouldn’t generalize. Significant improvements have been made in Joliette.”

Fortin replied that “nothing is improving in the emergency department.”

He also pointed out that since December, three patients have died in the Chateauguay emergency department before seeing a doctor.

To back up his claims, the Liberal MNA cited a recent study by the Montreal Economic Institute (MEI), which showed that there had been no improvement in emergency room waiting times.

“The minister is presenting plan after plan after plan, but he is failing, failing, failing. Why is he incapable of improving the situation in emergency departments?” asked Fortin.

“On the contrary,” said Dubé. “Emergency departments are improving, as proof by the fact that they are now treating a higher volume of patients, including seniors. I took stock of the situation with the CEOs and told them: ‘Well done! We’re heading in the right direction.’”

Fortin pointed out that on Thursday morning, the average occupancy rate at the Chateauguay emergency department, for example, was 181 per cent.

“Patients were waiting in emergency for 10 hours and 15 minutes,” he said. “That’s seven and a half times the Coalition Avenir Québec’s promise of 90 minutes, and 181 per cent is well above the 150 per cent threshold for placing patients at risk.”

In a press scrum, Dubé said that some establishments were improving faster than others.

-This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews.