The widow calls to check on her husband's treatment at St. Jerome's Hospital

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The widow of a quadriplegic who suffered from bedsores and sought medical attention after a stay at St. Jerome Hospital is calling on the Quebec government to conduct an independent investigation into her husband's death.

Sylvie supported Brosseau's call for an independent review of “obvious deficiencies in the health care network”. Moelle épinière et motricité Québec (MÉMO-Qc), which advocates for Quebecers suffering from spinal cord injuries, follows the medically assisted death on March 29. Normand Meunier. Meunier, a quadriplegic since 2022, sought death to escape the agony caused by a bedsore that developed after spending four days immobilized on an ER stretcher after being hospitalized for a respiratory infection.

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In an interview with Radio-Canada that first told Meunier's story, Brosseau said her husband, who was admitted to the hospital as a total paraplegic, needed a variable-pressure mattress to prevent bedsores. She said she did not receive a bed adapted to her needs until the fifth day of her stay, by which time she had developed severe bed sores on her buttocks.

Laurentian Regional Director of Nursing Steve Desjardins told Radio-Canada that the ER is not equipped with variable pressure mattresses because they do not fit the stretchers used in emergency rooms. Unless a specialized mattress is used, the patient's position on the ER stretcher should be repositioned by the nursing staff regularly to prevent bedsores. However, Desjardins noted that the frequency of that care depends on how busy the ER is at any given moment.

The Laurentians Regional Health Authority has launched an internal investigation into Meunier's treatment. But Brosseau and MÉMO-Qc believes that this scope is insufficient and that an independent inquiry should look at the resources available to paralyzed patients in Quebec.

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“Such failures do not happen only here Saint-Jérôme Hospital, but is common in many areas of Quebec,” they said in a statement Friday. “Let's not wait for other tragedies to happen.

“Significantly improving the quality of service and care offered to people with disabilities would be the best way to honor Normand Meunier's name.”

They also want to meet with Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé “to inform him directly of the gaps in the continuum of care that led to the death of Normand Meunier.” Brosseau and MÉMO-Qc said they hope that “Normand's death will be the last incident in Quebec of these causes.”

Dube, who called the situation unacceptable, said Friday that an investigation by the Laurentians Health Authority would begin gathering facts about the incident, but said he would order an independent investigation if necessary.

“What I've done in situations like this since I've been here is to at least start with an internal investigation to have the basis of the facts,” he told reporters in Montreal. “If we need an independent investigation, we will.”

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