Woman who said the hospital ignored her pleas died of natural causes: coroner

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Felicie Mireille Akoko Ndjomouo died of natural causes: multisystem organ failure secondary to a form of lymphoma, states a report by coroner Amélie Lavigne released on November 23.

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Ndjomouo, a 44-year-old Cameroonian refugee and mother of three, died on March 9 at the Jewish General Hospital after being transferred the day before from the Charles-Le Moyne Hospital, where she had spent a week.

From his bed in the Longueuil hospital, Ndjomouo recorded an emotional video in which he stated that his condition was not being treated properly – “It is as if they are killing me little by little,” he said – and implore the Cameroonian community to share the video on social media. “I am asking the doctor to transfer me to another hospital, where it would be better to follow me, but he does not want to,” he said.

After the video was posted on Facebook on the morning of March 7, allegations of racism, neglect and error began to swirl on social media and in published reports. Comparisons were made to the video of Joyce Echaquan, Atikamekw’s mother of seven who recorded hospital workers making derogatory and racist comments about her shortly before her death on September 28, 2020.

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The type of lymphoma that Ndjomouo had, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, is among the most common malignancies in people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Although aggressive and often diagnosed at an advanced stage, it is also less common now that antiretroviral therapy for HIV infection is available. But Ndjomouo, who knew he had the virus, had refused treatment, according to the report.

Before his admission to Charles-Le Moyne, his general state of health was “extremely precarious,” wrote coroner Lavigne in her report, dated September 15. Having HIV put her at risk for opportunistic infections and she had had repeated bouts of pneumonia. says the report. Notes in Ndjomouo’s medical record indicate that she had known for several years that she had HIV and that, despite explanations from her treating physician about the progression of the disease and the slow but inevitable deterioration of her immune system, she “ categorically rejected all proposed treatments. “

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She was admitted to Charles-Le Moyne on March 1 with pain in her left hip and multiple solid lesions under the skin on her torso, neck and back, according to the report, and a diagnosis of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, by then widespread. made. In the days that followed, Ndjomouo showed signs of fatigue, headache, weakness, and widespread pain.

The report states that “despite numerous recommendations from the medical team, he signed a form specifying that he refused all treatment.”

On March 3, Charles-Le Moyne’s team discussed with her the possibility of surgery and its associated risks, according to the report. “Because Madame Akoko Ndjomouo was still rejecting the proposed treatment and fearing the medical profession, this upset her greatly,” Lavigne wrote.

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Believing that it was the care she had received at the hospital that had caused the injuries and swelling, she asked to be transferred to another hospital. Several members of the Cameroonian community came to Charles-Le Moyne on behalf of Ndjomouo, a family spokesperson said at the time.

Following numerous requests from Ndjomouo and her family, she was transferred to the Jewish General on March 8, a Monday. Doctors found swelling under his skin and lesions all over his chest and abdomen. Her condition rapidly deteriorated and she was transferred to intensive care, where she died on March 9.

In an autopsy on March 12 at the McGill University Health Center, the pathologist found that the lymphoma had infiltrated “into the structures and tissues of the body.” These findings suggest multiorgan failure secondary to lymphoma proliferation, according to the report.

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In her video, Ndjomouo said that she had been injected with penicillin, although the staff knew “very well that I am allergic.” In response to concerns expressed by her family about whether she had received the antibiotic, Lavigne did “a thorough review” of her medical record, she wrote.

He found that Ndjomouo’s allergy to penicillin was clearly mentioned in the record and that there was no record of penicillin being administered, he wrote, and that the skin reactions observed by the family were not the result of penicillin administration, but more like lymphoma.

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