MONTREAL -- A former nurse who is suffering from cancer made an emotional plea to the National Assembly, asking for spouses of terminal patients to be allowed into hospitals.
Isabelle Pomerleau, who worked as a nurse for 30 years, first noticed symptoms of her colo-rectal cancer in February, but tried to wait out the first COVID-19 restrictions before going to the emergency room.
"I felt abandoned. I wanted to go to the emergency room but there was COVID and I was in too much pain to wait for 10 hours," she said.
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Pomerleau was diagnosed in July, at which point the disease was already terminal. Pomerleau pleaded with the Quebec government to allow visitors for those receiving end-of-life treatment.
"It broke my heart to think of all the CHSLD residents who died alone because people weren't allowed in," she said. "I don't want that to be me."
Opposition MNA Marie Montpetit said people such as Gingras should be allowed to have loved ones by their side in their final days. She pointed out the healthcare system faced a similar situation during the summer, when the Jewish General Hospital reversed a ban on spouses being in the room during childbirth.
"We already asked the Minister of Health two months ago to fix the situation," she said.
