Lachine Hospital ER 'never been closed' overnight, contrary to claims by MUHC

For several months, the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) has claimed that the emergency room at Montreal's Lachine Hospital has been closed between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. But staff at the hospital say it's been open the entire time with a steady flow of patients.

In an interview this week with La Presse canadienne, Dr. Arianne Murray, head of the Département régional de médecine générale de Montréal, said ER doctors at the hospital are providing care 24 hours a day and never stopped treating patients arriving overnight.

"The ER has never been closed at night," Murray said. "You hear that a lot, but the doctors were always there. It was closed to ambulances, but walk-in patients were coming 24/7."

Dr. Georges Zaarour, an ER physician and family doctor who works night shifts at Lachine Hospital, also says that what the MUHC is telling people is false. 

"It's not true that the ER is closed. It's officially closed, but unofficially open," said Zaarour.

He says despite the announcement of the "pseudo-closure," he can no longer treat all the overnight patients in the ER before the morning team arrives. From an average of 12 to 14 patients per night, Zaarour says he has seen the number of patients jump to more than 28.

These patients are arriving from Laval, the South Shore and Vaudreuil-Dorion, says Zaarour, because they can see on the health ministry's website that the ER occupancy at the Lachine Hospital is much lower than elsewhere. 

Dr. Paul Saba, a family physician at the hospital, says the MUHC shouldn't be discouraging people from showing up to the ER — especially if it's the closest one to them. 

"That could cause harm to people who would either not come to the emergency room because they don't want to travel or they're too sick to travel or there are delays in them getting to another centre," he said. 

MUHC doubles down

In an internal memo to staff obtained by La Presse canadienne, management at Lachine Hospital announced Tuesday that while they initially worried they would have to shut down the ER this summer, they were now happy to announce that "from now on, it will be possible to accept walk-in patients 24 hours a day, all summer."

However, in an email last week to La Presse canadienne, Gilda Salomone, head of communications at the MUHC, wrote that "the emergency room of the Lachine Hospital has been closed overnight since Feb. 14, 2023," adding that "this measure will continue to be applied until Sept. 25, 2023, which is to say that no patient showing up between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. can be accepted."

CBC followed up with the MUHC Friday night and was told that doctors who work the night shift at the Lachine Hospital are there primarily for post-operative care and hospitalized patients.

In a statement, the health network explained that because those doctors are already working, they're willing to see patients who arrive at the ER overnight. 

This, combined with the fact that the ER isn't accepting ambulances, means it isn't officially open, the MUHC said. 

But Zaarour doesn't see it that way.

"To me, in my book, and all my colleagues working at Lachine, the ER is open. We're continuing to operate and we will continue to operate as long as we need to," he said.

The MUHC says it plans to restore full service at the Lachine Hospital ER this fall.