Montreal health agency says communications with family were 'incomplete' after woman found dead in ER
The family of Candida Macarine says they have been left in the dark about circumstances surrounding her death
Montreal's West Island health agency has admitted its communications were lacking with the family of a woman who was found dead last month on the floor of a room in the emergency department of Lakeshore General Hospital in Pointe-Claire, Que.
But the family says that's not enough.
In a statement emailed to the media this morning, the CIUSSS de l'Ouest de l'Île de Montréal said it has asked the coroner to investigate Candida Macarine's Feb. 27 death.
"Although the investigation is still ongoing, the CIUSSS is already able to say that its communications with the family were incomplete, especially at the time of the announcement of the death," the statement said.
"The CIUSSS team is obviously sorry for the concerns this caused to the family of the deceased," it continued.
Macarine died in a negative pressure isolation room that nurses in the Montreal-area hospital had warned managers about several times, saying it was difficult to see and monitor patients there.
The day of her death, Macarine's family was told only that she had died of cardiac arrest.
Learned circumstances of mother's death from news report
It wasn't until they noticed a CBC News story two weeks later about a woman found "dead and ice cold" on the floor beside her bed that they realized that woman was likely their mother.
The family and CBC News have repeatedly requested more information from the hospital during the last two weeks.
The agency finally acknowledged Tuesday that Macarine was the patient who died, and that it had failed to report the circumstances of her death to the family.
WATCH | Placido Macarine shares how it feels to know so little about his mother's death:
'Unacceptable'
The statement comes a day after the family of Filipino heritage held a tearful news conference, accusing the hospital of racism.
In an interview with CBC Tuesday, Candida Macarine's son Emmanuel Macarine said he wasn't impressed with the hospital's statement.
"No, no, I'm sorry, but for me it's not an apology," Macarine said.
He scoffed at the hospital's admission that its communication with the family was "incomplete."
"Incomplete? Well I don't know how they tried to communicate with us! Until now, we didn't receive anything — until after the press conference yesterday," he said.
Head of CIUSSS offers to meet with family
The health agency intends to act on recommendations from the coroner's investigation to "ensure that such a situation does not happen again," CIUSSS said in its statement.
"Moreover, if it is shown that our staff acted inappropriately, the CIUSSS will not hesitate to take the decisions and actions that are necessary in such situations."
The health agency statement didn't explain why the family was never told of the circumstances of Macarine's death.
In an email, a spokesperson told CBC News that the agency would not comment further until the CIUSSS CEO Lynne McVey has had a chance to meet with the family.
"Lynne McVey wrote to family members yesterday and asked to meet with them to offer her support in this difficult ordeal," the statement said.
'Cannot trust them anymore'
Emmanuel Macarine said the family has no immediate plans to meet with McVey.
"After all the refusals to our requests to know the truth of what happened to our mom, we cannot trust them anymore," he said. "I mean, what are they going to say now?"
Macarine said the family would prefer to deal with the coroner's office.
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