Lakeshore Hospital investigates after 92-year-old patient with dementia sent home barefoot, in hospital gown

The Lakeshore General Hospital in Montreal's West Island has launched an internal investigation after a 92-year-old woman with dementia was discharged from hospital Wednesday and sent home in a taxi, barefoot and wearing only a hospital gown.

"She was shivering and shaking and extremely confused by the whole ordeal," Nathalie Paré, the daughter of Irene Paré, told CBC in an interview Thursday.

 "I just think that it's terrible," said Paré. "These are human beings. They're not animals, and you wouldn't even treat your animal that way."

Nathalie Paré said her mother was taken to hospital by ambulance Tuesday, after she called 911 because her mother was experiencing pain, vomiting and diarrhea.

Paré said the hospital called Tuesday night to say her mother was being treated for a urinary tract infection on the emergency ward and that she would be admitted to a room in the hospital Wednesday morning.

However, the next morning the hospital called Paré at work and said her mother had been discharged and was already on her way home in an adapted minivan taxi.

Paré knew that her mother didn't have house keys with her, so she left work and scrambled to get to her mother's house before the taxi arrived.

She made it, but when the minivan pulled up, Paré couldn't believe her eyes.

'Barefoot and shivering'

"To my complete and utter surprise, my mother was sitting there in the front seat with no clothes on. She had a hospital gown with a little blanket, no shoes on her feet, no socks. She was barefoot and shivering," Paré said.

According to Environment Canada, the temperature at nearby Trudeau airport Wednesday morning was between –23 C and –18 C, and with the windchill felt as cold as –29.

Paré said the clothes that her mother had been sent to hospital in were in a bag in the taxi.

"Slippers, sweater, her jeans and everything was there. They could have dressed her up," she said.

"I don't understand how a hospital can let a woman go home with no clothes on, at 92, with dementia."

She said she intends to file a formal complaint with the hospital's ombudsman.

Paré said her mother is still not feeling well and may have to return to hospital, although she said this time the family will ensure she's sent to St. Mary's Hospital instead of to the Lakeshore.

Internal investigation underway

Hélène Bergeron-Gamache, a spokesperson for the regional health agency which oversees the Lakeshore, the CIUSSS de l'Ouest de l'Île de Montréal, responded to CBC in an email. 

She said she couldn't comment on specific details of the case because of patient confidentiality, but she confirmed the hospital is investigating the incident.

"These events are of great concern to us, and an internal investigation is underway to shed light on this departure," Bergeron-Gamache said.

"Patients who are discharged from the hospital leave the premises with the clothes in which they arrived. If these are not suitable for the temperature, blankets and hospital slippers are provided," she said.

"We are working to improve the communication process related to discharge and to add safety tags for patients returning home by non-medical carriers," Bergeron-Gamache said.

Seniors group says patient could have died

Vanessa Herrick, executive director of the group Seniors Action Quebec, said the hospital needs to explain what happened.

"Who is responsible? Someone put that woman in the van, and a driver drove her home. And I think that those people at some point somewhere along the line could have stood up and said: 'This is not OK,'" Herrick told CBC in an interview.

"To hear the person in such a vulnerable state was sent home in – 20 degree temperatures without even wearing socks is shocking and really disturbing, because that could endanger a person's life."

This is the latest in a string of controversies for Lakeshore General Hospital.

Last August, CBC obtained an internal memo showing that several breaches of pandemic protocols by staff in the ER had led to patients being exposed to the COVID-19 virus.

Last June, a woman posing as a medical doctor was able to interact with patients in the hospital and order blood work and X-rays.

And the hospital apologized after it failed to tell the family of a woman who was found dead on the floor of her room about the circumstances surrounding her death.