Death outside Trois-Rivires, Que., hospital 'unacceptable': Health Ministry

Quebec's Health Ministry says the triage situation at a regional university hospitalin Trois-Rivires,where a man over the age of 85 died in an ambulance Wednesdaywhile awaiting treatment,is "unacceptable."

After waiting more than two hours outside the emergency room of theCentre hospitalier affili universitaire rgional(CHAUR), the man went into cardiac arrest and could not be revived.

"A situation like this is unacceptable andmust not happen again," said the Health Ministry in a statement. "Patients must be seen more quickly and treated viaother resources as much as possible."

Marianne Lemay, director of professional services for the regional health authority, theCentre intgr universitaire de sant et de services sociaux de la Mauricie-et-du-Centre-du-Qubec(CIUSSS-MCQ), told CBCthe emergency room wasstretched well beyond capacity.

"In COVID times, we have 45 beds that are available at the ER and we had 67 occupied with over 30 patients whowere waiting to be hospitalized," she said. "So you can understand that this creates quite a bit of pressure."

Lemaysaid no one who works at the hospital wants to see a patient die in such a setting. Paramedics havebeen denouncing the wait times for patienttransfers in the Mauricie region since last week.

On Wednesday, when the elderly man was brought to the CHAUR, there were already five or six other ambulances waiting in the hospitalgarage.

The man was triaged by a nurse, whodeemed him not to be a priority. He was madeto waitin the emergency vehicle. Paramedics alerted the hospital and did everything they could to revive him when he went into cardiac arrest buthe died inside the ambulance.

Patients' rights group wants answers

"When someone gets abandoned like that in a hospital garage, it's a pretty sad portrayal of the health network," said Paul Brunet, a patients' rights advocate and president of theConseilpourla protection des malades(CPM).

Brunet says the regional health authority owes the family and the public anexplanation.

"Was there good communication with the paramedics and the emergency staff?" he said in an interview with Radio-Canada. "There are several questions that need to be answered but we feel this is a death that probably could have been avoided."

The CIUSSS-MCQsays it's conducting an internal investigation and has asked the coroner to help itlook into it. Health Minister Christian Dub's office said it will be "digging deeper" toget to the bottom of what happened.