Resident Jean Bottari, known in the media for his criticism of the healthcare system and elder care, died suddenly at his home in Rawdon on Thursday. He was 61 years old.
Posted at 12:44pm
Isabelle Ducas The press
Mr. Bottari has frequently appeared as an analyst in newspapers, on television and at conferences on health issues.
He was very present on social networks and on Wednesday he had posted a message again on Facebook to denounce the healthcare system’s treatment of elderly patients while Quebec is experiencing a new wave of COVID-19.
“It happened very, very suddenly,” says his wife Caroline Lafrance. “He collapsed on the floor, I heard a bang, I went to him and he wasn’t breathing. I immediately called the ambulance. »
Ms. Lafrance, herself an auxiliary nurse, began resuscitation maneuvers, which the paramedics continued upon her arrival. Other maneuvers were attempted in the hospital.
“But they were never able to resuscitate his heart,” says Ms Lafrance, who says Mr Bottari had no known heart problems. “He was healthy, which is very unexpected. »
Ms. Lafrance praised her husband’s willingness to fight, who was very committed to the community and fought for his beliefs. “He was an extraordinary man who always put others above himself,” she says, touched.
It was Jean Bottari’s daughter, Cassandra Bottari-Laporte, who first announced her father’s death in a Facebook post.
“Exactly three weeks to the day after my grandfather died, my father suddenly came to see him. It all seems very unreal. Let your heart beat faster, carried by peace and love dad,” she wrote.
His death comes shortly after that of his own father, Nello Bottari. Jean Bottari had also published a letter in La Presse denouncing the circumstances of this death.
Jean Bottari, who was also president of his union, retired as a favored companion a few years ago but returned to the service when Prime Minister François Legault called for it at the start of the pandemic. He was currently unemployed due to a knee injury.