Montreal’s West Island health agency has admitted its communications were lacking with the family of a woman who was found dead last month on the floor of a room in the emergency department of Lakeshore General Hospital in Pointe-Claire, Que.
But the family says that’s not enough.
In a statement emailed to the media this morning, the CIUSSS de l’Ouest de l’Île de Montréal said it has asked the coroner to investigate Candida Macarine’s Feb. 27 death.
“Although the investigation is still ongoing, the CIUSSS is already able to say that its communications with the family were incomplete, especially at the time of the announcement of the death,” the statement said.
“The CIUSSS team is obviously sorry for the concerns this caused to the family of the deceased,” it continued.
Macarine died in a negative pressure isolation room that nurses in the Montreal-area hospital had warned managers about several times, saying it was difficult to see and monitor patients there.
The day of her death, Macarine’s family was told only that she had died of cardiac arrest.
Learned circumstances of their mom’s death from a news report
It wasn’t until they noticed a CBC News story two weeks later about a woman found “dead and ice cold” on the floor beside her bed that they realized that woman was likely their mother.
The family and CBC News have repeatedly requested more information from the hospital during the last two weeks.
The agency finally acknowledged Tuesday that Macarine was the patient who died, and that it had failed to report the circumstances of her death to the family.
WATCH | Placido Macarine shares how it feels to know so little about his mother’s death:
The family of a woman who died at Lakeshore General Hospital in a room that staff had warned managers about for weeks only learned about the circumstances of her death after reading a CBC story earlier this week. 2:19
‘Unacceptable’
The statement comes a day after the family of Filipino heritage held a tearful press conference, accusing the hospital of racism.
Macarine’s family emailed a statement to CBC Tuesday through the Centre for Research-Action on Race Relations, which has been offering support.
“The issue is not ‘incomplete’ communications as Lakeshore stated. It is rather a persistent refusal to provide to the family the information to which they are entitled since Feb. 27,” the statement said.
“It is unacceptable that Lakeshore only reacted due to media coverage.”
Head of CIUSSS offers to meet with family
The health agency intends to act on recommendations from the coroner’s investigation to “ensure that such a situation does not happen again,” CIUSSS said in its statement.
“Moreover, if it is shown that our staff acted inappropriately, the CIUSSS will not hesitate to take the decisions and actions that are necessary in such situations.”
The health agency statement didn’t explain why the family was never told of the circumstances of Macarine’s death.
In an email, a spokesperson told CBC News that the agency would not comment further until the CIUSSS CEO Lynne McVey has had a chance to meet with the family.
“Lynne McVey wrote to family members yesterday and asked to meet with them to offer her support in this difficult ordeal,” the statement said.
‘Cannot trust anything the hospital says’
The Macarine family said they have no immediate plans to meet with McVey.
“The family cannot trust anything the hospital says,” the family statement said.
“The family will speak to the coroner’s office first. In the meantime, it declines to meet or speak with the hospital about the tragic death of Candida,” the statement continued.