Fatal bed sore in Saint-Jérôme: the hospital implements corrective measures

The CISSS des Laurentides is taking initial steps to correct the way things are done in the emergency room at Saint-Jérôme Hospital in order to prevent patients who have a physical disability from ending up with pressure sores.

The tragedy experienced by the late Normand Meunier, a quadriplegic suffering from a major bed sore after spending 96 hours on a stretcher at Saint-Jérôme Hospital, sparked strong reactions.

After a stay in the emergency room of this hospital in January due to a respiratory virus, he emerged with a major pressure sore on his buttocks. This gaping hole would have taken several months to heal if all the necessary conditions had been met, according to the experts consulted.

At 66, Mr. Meunier said he preferred to put an end to his physical and psychological suffering by resorting to medical assistance in dying. This man has been paralyzed in his arms and legs since 2022 following a spinal cord injury.

To prevent such a situation from happening again at Saint-Jérôme Hospital, several measures have been taken in recent weeks, Radio-Canada has learned.

The first thing we worked on […]it’s all about skills development for our wound care nursing staffexplains the director of nursing at the CISSS des Laurentides, Steve Desjardins.

Concretely, we are training 26 resource nurses in our different units at Saint-Jérôme Hospital.

This measure aims in particular to ensure that a sufficient number of nurses have the necessary knowledge taking into account the movement of staff from one department to another and the turnover rate.

A specialized physical disability intervention position was also created last week.

This person will be able to support the teams, because obviously, these are situations in which the teams are less accustomed to intervening. SO, [le fait] to have someone who is more specialized in this, well, that can help to better adapt our interventionsspecifies the director.

The revision of hospitalization criteria is also on the table in order to prioritize people at risk in the event of a prolonged stay in the emergency room.

Without forgetting the availability of suitable mattresses and beds, particularly in the hospital emergency room. We are in the process of analyzing our fleet of therapeutic surfaces and, above all, if we can do better to make these tools [disponibles pour] those who need itadds the director of nursing.

The unfortunate experience that occurred at the hospital would have been communicated to other hospitals in the Laurentians.

Internal investigation continues

At the spinal cord and motricity Quebec organization, general director Walter Zelaya is critical of the measures put forward by the hospital.

To me, it gives me the impression more that these are gestures to try to put the lid on the pot. We’re trying to finally find out what’s behind it.

There is someone who died and we believe that the CISSS has a responsibilitymaintains Mr. Zelaya. As [organisme]we have the right to know what happened, where there were flaws.

At the CISSS des Laurentides, we confirm that the internal investigation is not completed and that the The Office of the Complaints and Service Quality Commissioner has filed a complaint in connection with this situation.

The Office has managed 39 complaints and intervention files related to bed sores over the past three years.

Prime Minister Legault offers his condolences

The case of the late Normand Meunier came up several times in the National Assembly.

Hot on his heels in recent days by opposition leader Marc Tanguay over the failures of the CAQ in health citing in particular the death of Mr. Meunier, Prime Minister François Legault offered his condolences to the family.

It’s certain that we still have work to do in the health network, it’s not easyreplied Mr. Legault. We are short of staff, so we quickly trained beneficiary attendants [et] We are trying to obtain more flexibility from the nurses’ union to be able to move nurses where there are the greatest needs.

The Prime Minister criticized the network management of previous governments.