After a brief stay in Notre-Dame hospital, Richard*, a paranoid schizophrenic, was sent home in taxi without his personal effects, in a hospital shirt soiled with his excrement. A “dehumanizing” treatment deplores his brother, who is his caregiver.
Posted at 8:00 a.m.
Updated at 8:26 a.m.
Richard is under private supervision. “He is a very vulnerable person, who is unable to take care of himself,” explains his brother, Michel Tétrault, who is his tutor to the person.
On February 17, when a monster snowstorm buried Montreal, Richard lost consciousness in the street, near his semi-subwitched residence, explains his brother. After being transported urgently to Notre-Dame Hospital, he was treated for an intestinal disorder caused by his medication.
Richard had his leave two weeks later, on March 7. But the patient’s brothers, both outside the city, were unable to pick him up. “We asked the hospital to call him a taxi,” explains Michel Tétrault. This is something we had already done and it had always been well. »»
But in the middle of the afternoon, Richard arrived at his residence without his personal effects. “The hospital put it in a taxi in a blue jacket soiled with its excrement, without its keys or its wallet. »»
“His clothes, his portfolio and his keys were still in his room the hospital,” deplores Michel Tétrault, who judges that his brother suffered a “great lack of dignity”.
When the hospital sent Richard’s personal effects to his residence about an hour later, his debit card was not found. The next day, the card was blocked following an attempted fraud, reports his brother.
“Human error”
For reasons of confidentiality, the CIUSSS of the Center-Sud-de-l’île-de-Montreale could not directly comment on the case of Richard. Through a spokesperson, the establishment ensures, however, that its healthcare teams “always plan with rigor and attention” the leave of their patients.
“Although rare human errors can occur at certain stages, we do everything to prevent them,” he said.
The CIUSSS adds that users must leave the hospital after receiving their leave, even when their loved ones cannot come and pick them up.
The objective is to “allow optimal management of hospital resources”. In such situations, he considers taxi as a “security” means of transport.
Before the patients’ departure, the establishment says it is “that their personal effects are gathered, that they have taken a meal, that hygiene care is offered to them and that their medication has been administered according to recommendations”.
More common than before
The stories like that of Richard are “more common than before, especially since the pressure is immense with the staff of the hospitals to release beds,” says Paul Brunet, president of the Patient Protection Council (CPM). “We hear it at least once a month,” he adds.
However, a patient deemed unfit to take care of himself should receive a special treatment when he leaves the hospital, he believes.
I do not understand that we do not suspend the return to the house of a patient unfit for the time his loved ones arrive. If it was our loved one, would we act in the same way?
Paul Brunet, Chairman of the Council for the Protection of Patients
Richard’s brothers filed a complaint at the office of the local complaints and the quality of the CIUSSS services in Center-Sud-de-l’île-de-Montréal.
According to Michel Tétrault, Richard has received quality care at Notre-Dame Hospital, but his brother’s precipitated exit testifies to an overloaded health network.
“What saddeen me is that it seemed almost normal. The employees of the guard station, the taxi driver … Everyone saw what happened and no one said anything, ”he regrets.
No negligence, according to the complaint commissioner
In a document that The press was able to consult, the office of the complaints of the CIUSSS of the Center-Sud-de-l’Ile-de-Montréal concluded that the Notre-Dame Hospital did not show negligence with regard to Richard.
The patient settled himself in the wheelchair which was going to lead him to the taxi, which prevented the nursing staff from noticing the defense stains on his jacket, according to the document.
Richard also told the employees of the hospital that his bag of personal effects did not belong to him, according to the commissioner’s office.
The situation could still have been avoided, according to the document, in which it can be read that “the count of the personal effects of [Richard] has not been done as it should have been “, and that a” recall “on this subject has been made to the healthcare teams since the event.
* Fictive first name to preserve your dignity
Precision
The last portion of the text on the analysis of the complaint commissioner was added to the text after his initial publication.
