As talk of closing hospital beds mounts this summer, the death of a lady from Saint-Guillaume, near Drummondville, raises some questions.
Rita Chapdelaine died in October 2022, just days after undergoing day surgery at Fleurimont Hospital in Sherbrooke.
In his report released on Wednesday, coroner Yvon Garneau refrained from establishing a direct link between the surgery and the bleeding that led to the 70-year-old’s death. However, he wonders if her death could have been avoided if she had been watched for 24 hours.
Rita Chapdelaine went to the CHUS Fleurimont hospital on Friday October 14, 2022 to undergo cryoablation of a kidney tumor.
This technique consists of treating lesions with cold by positioning needles through the skin on the affected tissues, without resorting to a surgical incision.
According to the radiologist, the operation went well.
As the surgery was elective, the 75-year-old woman was discharged from the hospital that same evening.
On Saturday night, Ms Chapdelaine reportedly complained of pain when her sister visited her.
She went to bed after he left.
Her partner found her dead in her bed on Sunday morning.
Coroner Yvon Garneau concludes in his examination that “Ms. Chapdelaine probably died of a malignant arrhythmia (cardiac arrhythmia causing an immediate interruption of blood circulation) resulting from a post-cryoablation hemorrhagic complication.”
“The teaching seems to want to warn against postoperative complications. It is then permissible to question the discharge granted to the patient. Was he too hasty? Would another day of observation have detected shock?” the coroner added in his analysis.
The President of the Council for the Protection of the Sick, Paul Brunet, believes that this questioning is perfectly legitimate.
“We must not bury our heads in the sand, those responsible for the health network are putting more and more pressure on the nursing staff to release beds as quickly as possible. I am not a doctor so I cannot say that the decision to fire the lady hastened or caused her death. On the other hand, I know that smarter bed and staff management would take the pressure off and we might be less hasty in saying goodbye.
Rita Chapdelaine’s spouse, Denis Joyal, and her sister Lise in no way hold the management of the CIUSSS de l’Estrie-CHUS responsible for the death of the 75-year-old lady.
All they want is that if changes need to be made based on Coroner Yvon Garneau’s report, they will be made as soon as possible for the benefit of all patients.