‘Both are responsible for deaths’: coroner warns CHSLD Herron, CIUSSS for finger pointing

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During the expanded investigation into CHSLD Herron, Coroner Géhane Kamel renewed her call for an end to the allegations between the home and the West Island health authority.

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The lack of clarity about what happened to the residents of the Dorval home as they were malnourished, dehydrated and left sitting in dirty diapers during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic is what prompted Kamel to extend the initially scheduled hearings. to conclude in September.

On Tuesday, the investigation heard for the first time from Dr. Najia Hachimi-Idrissi, president and deputy director general of CIUSSS de l’Ouest-de-l’Île-de-Montréal, who was asked mainly about the recruitment of personnel. , the absence of doctors and the discrepancy in the number of deaths that led to the call to 911 at dawn on April 11.

“What I’d like to finish today is the kind of loop: ‘It’s not me, it’s Herron, it’s not Herron, it’s CIUSSS,'” Kamel said. “You were both, Herron and CIUSSS, responsible for these older people. There are 47 people who died, and both CIUSSS and Herron are responsible for their deaths ”.

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Like previous CIUSSS witnesses, Hachimi-Idrissi said that the health authority did what it could to staff Herron, but that unionized staff were unable to move within the network. That meant it had to rely on volunteers to try to meet the demand, many of whom had very specific requests, which is why the first CIUSSS staff to come forward to Herron were managers, Hachimi-Idrissi said.

When asked why the three doctors assigned to Herron’s pre-pandemic were not called out of telemedicine as the situation deteriorated at home, Hachimi-Idrissi said it would have been the responsibility of Dr. Nadine Larente, care director. CIUSSS professional. . Those doctors previously stated that they were unaware of Herron’s condition until they read Aaron Derfel’s Montreal Gazette report on April 10. They returned the next day.

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While the doctors were away, Herron’s staff brought death reports for them to sign. Despite dozens of testimonies since the Herron investigation began, it is unclear how the death toll of residents rose from 13 to 31 in what seemed a surprise to everyone on the ground.

“What strikes us in hindsight is that people were dying, day after day, and CIUSSS staff witnessed it in the same way Herron staff did,” Kamel said. “And no one thought to register the deaths of these people before April 10 … It’s silly.”

The last witness scheduled to testify is CIUSSS Director Lynne McVey, who was called in to clarify the situation after testifying for the first time in September. Unless McVey’s testimony is lengthy or Kamel decides to call another witness, the Herron investigation should conclude by Tuesday afternoon.

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This report will be updated.

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