Lakeshore Hospital: start of independent investigation

The independent investigation requested by the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, following the revelations of an article in the Montreal Gazette newspaper concerning deaths in highly controversial circumstances at Lakeshore Hospital in Pointe-Claire, is already underway. .

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The retired ex-executive of the CIUSSS de l’Ouest-de-l’Île de Montréal, Francine Dupuis, appointed to shed light on the revelations of the English-language daily, will spend part of the week in the field.

Among the disturbing cases to be examined, there will be that of Jacques Blais, 77 years old.

He is a retired ex-policeman from the Sûreté du Québec who hanged himself with a bell cord after spending a dozen hours on a stretcher in the emergency room.

“They would have left him in a corridor according to the revelations of the Gazette, explains the son of the deceased, Patrice Blais. He would have met a psychiatrist following [d’une] first suicide attempt which would have placed him in protective custody. Following this, he would have been placed in a corridor that had no view of the nursing station.

The inquest’s revelations also point to medical errors caused by a lack of nurses, inadequate training, insufficient supervision and dysfunctional equipment.

Controversial

There would already be a controversy in connection with the appointment of Francine Dupuis.

In an interview with the Montreal Gazette, a union representative of nurses sees an appearance of conflict of interest and wonders if Ms. Dupuis will be able to do her job properly.

Ms. Dupuis is a former work colleague of the new boss of the CIUSSS de l’Ouest-de-l’Île-de-Montréal Dan Eric Gabay, whose organization oversees the Lakeshore.

Ms. Dupuis preferred not to comment on our airwaves.