Herron home residents' families file complaint with College of Physicians

A lawyer representing families of residents who lived and died at the Herron long-term care home in Dorval plans to file a complaint with Quebec's College of Physicians.

Patrick Martin-Menard said three doctors responsible for the facility worked from a distance at the beginning of the first COVID-19 wave, and that for a two-week period between late March 2020 and early April, they never showed up despite being informed of how dire the situation was.

"Over the course of these two weeks, these doctors were regularly informed via phone by the nurses on site about the deterioration of their patients. They had to sign multiple death certificates," said Martin-Menard.

Orly Hermon, Adriana Ionescu and Lilia Lavallee were the doctors responsible for patients at the facility, and all three testified at the coroner's inquest into the deaths at long-term care homes in Quebec.

They said they were instructed to work from a distance and worried about the lack of personal protective equipment at Herron.

"Yes, reserves were low, but PPE was available," said Martin-Menard. "If a doctor wanted to go on site, giving this doctor a mask, jacket, gloves would have been possible."

The lawyer wants answers for families whose loved ones died at the home, so he's filing a complaint with the college of physicians.

"The big question that I'm always asking myself is would this situation had been the same if these patients were younger or in a different circumstance than a CHSLD?" he said. "Would we have treated them in this way? Would we have neglected them in this way?"

In a written response, the college of physicians said if a complaint is accepted and consequences are handed down, a doctor could face anything from a fine to permanent suspension or could see their licence revoked.