Quebec public services are becoming 'dehumanized' due to rise in demand: ombudsperson

Quebec's public services are becoming "dehumanized," the province's ombudsperson said in his annual report released Thursday, adding that a growing number of people are reaching out to his office to signal problems.

Marc-André Dowd's report highlights several examples of people receiving inadequate care across the health network in the 12 months leading to March 31.

One dying man who lived alone had lost the ability to clean up after his cat, whom he considered his companion. However, his local health clinic refused to include cleaning the animal's litter box in his care plan.

Considering the man's "solitude," as well as his attachment to his pet — and the fact he had requested medical assistance in dying — the man merited a different response, the report says. "Beyond a strict interpretation of the program, support should have been provided on humanitarian grounds."

In another example, Dowd describes staff at a long-term care home feeding residents “mechanically” and ignoring them while music blared in the background, despite Health Ministry guidelines directing staff to maintain eye contact with residents.

"Such a lack of communication, attention and consideration toward the residents of the (care home) is an example of the dehumanized care," Dowd writes, adding the case is emblematic of a "distressing loss of purpose" in the duties of workers employed in what are supposed to be places of care.

The report also describes instances during which health-care staff used measures to control patients that are unjustifiable.

For example, a man hospitalized in a geriatric unit, who was prone to aggressive behaviour and hallucinations, was tied to his wheelchair facing a wall for long periods of time. His relatives had agreed to the control measure, but the report says staff used it even when it was unnecessary. As well, the same man was supposed to be given anti-psychotic medication when experiencing aggressive behaviour or hallucinations but was instead given the drug to prevent him from making inappropriate comments.

The ombudsperson says his office received a record number of problems to investigate across the province's public services — 24,867 in 2023-24 compared with 22,053 the previous year. More than 300 of the requests are related to wrongdoing by public officials, which can range from misusing public funds to putting people's health at risk — a 25 per cent increase compared to previous year.

Dowd says his office investigated 13,358 cases between April 2023 and March of this year.

-This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.