‘A million times better’: Quebec family seeks post-drowning care in U.S., alleging son was written off by Montreal doctors

"Now he breathes on his own," says Quebecer Nicolas Tétrault, who took his two-year-old son Arthur to the U.S. for post-drowning care, after alleging doctors in Montreal wrote off his chances at survival. Alyssia Rubertucci reports.

Quebec father Nicolas Tétrault says he had to take his two-year-old son Arthur to New Orleans in the U.S. after alleging doctors in Montreal wrote off his son’s chances at survival, weeks after a near-drowning last year.

“I picked him up out of the pool,” Tétrault said. “It was a freezing day that day, three degrees Celsius on Oct. 8, and I emptied his lungs. They were filled with water.”

Arthur was rushed to the Lakeshore General Hospital and was transferred to the Montreal Children’s Hospital hours later.

“Once he was stable, they did an MRI to see what type of damages he had. He had some damages into the brain, but not extreme,” Tétrault said.

He believes Arthur was under water between five and 10 minutes. He said he asked doctors in Montreal to give him treatment that involved increasing oxygen levels — something Tetrault says was refused. Treatment for post-drowning does not include hyperbaric oxygen in the country, as it’s not approved by Health Canada for that indication.

“We were in contact with world elite, best medical post-drowning team, a professor at Louisiana State University, 38 years of medical protocol out to cure children, and he was trying to give the Montreal Children’s information, but they didn’t even want to listen to anything,” Tétrault said.

He said that after five weeks in hospital, doctors gave him and Arthur’s mother a grim prognosis.

Arthur Tétrault, 2, after being treated in the U.S. following a near-drowning in Oct. 2024. (Courtesy: Nicolas Tétrault)

“They had decided unilaterally, after five weeks, not five years, that they would gently unplug our child and that we could prepare our funeral,” he said, adding that they mentioned the donation of organs.

In a statement to CityNews, the Montreal Children’s Hospital (MCH) says they are “committed to providing compassionate, evidence-based care, emphasizing quality of life and family well-being.”

In cases of cardiac arrest with prolonged resuscitation, like in drowning, they say survival is rare, and children often face severe brain damage, “which may result in an unresponsive wakefulness syndrome (permanent vegetative state).”

“When treating these patients, our multidisciplinary team follows strict protocols. Life support is initiated in all cases, and advanced assessments are conducted to guide care decisions. Treatments are adapted as symptoms like seizures or breathing difficulties evolve.”

A spokesperson for the MCH said: “When meaningful recovery of brain functions is deemed unlikely, shifting the focus to ensuring comfort and reducing suffering is recommended. Families are supported with options, such as for second opinions or transfers if desired.

“Discussions about organ donation, managed by Transplant Québec, occur only when death is inevitable and never influence patient care.”

The MCH says they remain “committed to the highest standards of medical practice and transparency during these difficult circumstances.”

Patrick Martin-Ménard is a medical malpractice lawyer in Montreal — who is not associated with Tétrault — but worked on a case where the Quebec Court of Appeal ordered the extubation of a Montreal boy that drowned and was in a vegetative state.

Ste-Justine Hospital and the parents disagreed on what should happen after the tube was removed.

“Oftentimes, we see conflicts like this happen when the family’s values and their notion of the interest of the child clashes with the treating team’s notions of the interest of the child,” Martin-Ménard said.

“In a situation like this, the only way the treating team can bypass the family’s wishes is to go to the court and ask the court for a court-ordered treatment, and then we have some outlining specific steps that the treating team wants to take, and that’s what ended up happening in the Ste-Justine case.”

The child in that case ended up surviving – and the same happened with Arthur, after his parents had him medevacked to Louisiana.

Tétrault began speaking out about this in a video posted to social media — denouncing the situation.

He said while in the pediatric intensive care unit of the MCH, he spent hours researching medical treatments for post-drownings.

“We’re trying to pinpoint who’s the best medical team in the world, ultra-specialized in drowning, which brought us to New Orleans where the world famous doctor, Dr. Paul G. Harsh, has treated 160 patients,” he said.

Arthur Tétrault, 2, in a hyperbaric chamber alongside Dr. Paul G. Harsh in Louisiana on Jan. 14, 2025 . (Courtesy: Nicolas Tétrault)

On Nov. 25, the family was on a jet to Louisiana.

“They told the team in the air ambulance to immediately give him higher pressure and 30 per cent oxygen throughout the flight — they did that for two hours and 45 minutes,” he said. “When we landed the plane, the child had no more dystonia, and no more uncontrolled movement or brainstorming. We could have done that seven weeks in advance,” he added.

Arthur immediately underwent treatments at the Ochsner Medical Center and his father says after a month, his son was doing “a million times better.”

“Now he breathes on his own, no problem. He manages his secretions, no problem. He has no more brainstorming and no more dystonia. And the hospital in Louisiana has reduced 50 per cent, the drugs,” he said.

Arthur has started treatments in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber — a pressurized space where patients breathe pure oxygen to treat conditions that involve oxygen-starved tissue.

Tétrault says he has hope for the future and wants to advocate for access to this kind of treatment in Canada.

“It’s not acceptable that a hospital can decide unilaterally if your son is going to live or die,” he said.

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