'It was horror,' says wife of quadriplegic man who sought assisted death after ER bedsore
Quebec public inquiry will hear from nurses, doctors and advocates
Sylvie Brosseau, her voice breaking and her eyes moist, spoke of her husband's final days over a year after he sought medical assistance in dying following a hospital stay that left him with a severe and painful bedsore.
"His last two weeks…it was horror," she told reporters during a break in the public inquiry into his death that began Monday morning in Montreal.
"I hope this will change things, because even now nothing has changed."
Normand Meunier, 66, who was quadriplegic, was stuck on a stretcher in an emergency room at a hospital in Saint-Jérôme, Que., for four days in January of last year.
During his stay, Meunier didn't have access to a special mattress and developed a major pressure sore on his buttocks. It eventually worsened to the point where bone and muscle were exposed and visible — making his recovery and prognosis bleak.
He was told the sore — a gaping hole a few centimetres in diameter — would, at best, take several months to heal, according to the experts he consulted.
"It was horrible. He had no buttocks. There was nothing left," Brosseau said.
The day before his death, Meunier spoke to Radio-Canada and said he preferred putting an end to his physical and psychological suffering by opting for a medically assisted death.
Meunier died on March 29, 2024.
In his opening statement on Monday, coroner Dave Kimpton offered condolences to Meunier's family and asked all participants to be respectful, given the "charged emotion" surrounding the man's death.
Moëlle Épinière et Motricité Québec — an advocacy group for people with spinal cord injuries — demanded the Quebec government launch an independent inquiry into what happened at the hospital, following Meunier's death.
"There are deaths that happen that shouldn't happen, because we have everything we need to treat these people," the group's president, Walter Zelaya, told reporters outside the hearing.
"We have the expertise, but often we lack the co-ordination. There's negligence that happens," Zelaya said, adding that bedsores are often not considered important, even by some health-care professionals.
"There's a misunderstanding among key personnel. It's important they understand a pressure sore can lead to death if it's not treated properly," he said.
The office of Health Minister Christian Dubé said it was determined to find out what happened and said it would take "corrective action."
'Totally negligent'
Brosseau said she was by Meunier's side 24/7 since he became quadriplegic.
"He was six foot four and 300 pounds, a truck driver. He got around. Finding himself in a wheelchair was very, very difficult," she said.
She said the system was "totally negligent" when it came to Meunier's care at Saint-Jérôme Hospital. In the months leading up to his death, she said Meunier had been hospitalized several times with infections.
"Each time, we had to ask for the special mattress which never arrived. It was a constant battle," she said.
"At the end, the head of the ER threatened to ban me from entering the hospital."
Brosseau said the biggest problem with her husband's care was a lack of communication between different parts of the system.
"I hope there's a light shone on this so that in the end, everyone works together. It shouldn't be each one their own department," she said.
She noted she has "nothing against" the nurses and orderlies who cared for her husband, adding they did everything they could.
"But you have to work as a team and that's not what happened. Not at all," she said.
Brosseau said she would have more to say when she testifies at the inquiry later this month.
Nurse testifies Meunier didn't want to return to hospital
One of the witnesses who testified Monday was Ecaterina Clefas, a home-care nurse working for the CLSC Lafontaine.
Clefas was a replacement nurse who visited Meunier at home on Feb. 1, 2024, shortly after his four-day stay in the ER.
She testified she was shocked by the size and severity of Meunier's bedsore.
"It was very large, very complex," Clefas said.
She said she bandaged the wound as best she could, but that treating it properly was outside her expertise, and that she believed the wound should be treated in hospital.
She said Meunier told her during the visit he didn't want to return to hospital.
Clefas contacted the hospital for advice and received a call back the following day. She said she was told that it would be a challenge to readmit Meunier to the hospital because specialized equipment for his care was not available, and that it wasn't possible for a doctor to visit him at home.
Clefas testified that the hospital manager she spoke to said she would follow up and ensure something was done to help Meunier.
Kimpton, who is presiding over the inquiry, will hear from other interested parties and make recommendations aimed at preventing similar situations in the future.
Staff and officials from Saint-Jérôme Hospital are expected to testify later this week.
The public hearings are being held at the Montreal courthouse between May 5 and 9, May 12 and 16, and June 2 and 6.
Kimpton is being assisted by attorneys Vanessa Nadeau and Pierre-Olivier Bilodeau, and physician Dr. Marc Jalbert, who will act as an assessor.
Throughout the hearings, over 30 witnesses will speak, including an investigator from the Sûreté du Québec Mascouche, nurses from the CLSC Lafontaine, family doctors and other specialists working at the Saint-Jérôme Hospital.
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With files from Hénia Ould-Hammou and Rachel Watts