Bernard Baril is mourning the loss of his 86-year-old aunt, three weeks after she died while waiting for a bed in a hospital.
Mariette Fournier suffered from several illnesses including diabetes and Alzheimer's disease, but after she developed flu-like symptoms, Baril brought her to Maisonneuve-Rosemont hospital.
Fournier ended up spending four days lying on a gurney in a hallway of the emergency ward.
"Fifteen feet from the ambulance, where the door is open, we smell gas, and it's cold, all day, all night, and never the lights close in that corridor," said Baril. "It's the Alzheimer's, the corridor of die."
Officials say the hospital was operating at 200 percent capacity, and geriatric patients were forced to stay in the emergency room because there was nowhere else for them to go.
Paul Brunet, of the Patients' Rights Council, says another problem is a chronic shortage of nurses, which forces hospitals to close their beds altogether.
"We've been telling governments under the PQ, under the Liberals, that we need to restrict the number of managers," said Brunet. He says hospital should hire "more hands, more professionals to help the patients."
Stressed healthcare system
Fournier's case is not the only reason death blamed on an overtaxed healthcare system.
65-year-old Jean-Guy Pitre died Friday of a heart condition after collapsing at his Venice-en-Quebec home.
He had been on a waiting list for surgery since September
Pitre's children had repeatedly asked why the operation was delayed, and officials at Hotel Dieu hospital said there was a lack of beds, and more urgent cases took priority.
Meanwhile Baril, who was his aunt's full-time caregiver for ten years, is preparing for her funeral.
Remembering her final days has left him heartbroken, but demanding action.
"We need to push the politicians now," said Baril. We need to never again "arrive at a situation like this."
