Anna-Laberge Hospital | Four days to obtain a death certificate

2024-01-27 05:00:00

An investigation was opened following the family of a patient who died at Anna-Laberge hospital in Châteauguay had to wait four days to obtain his death certificate and take care of the funeral rites.

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Stéphane Roch and Véronique Hébert were far from suspecting the nightmare they were going to experience when they received the call announcing the death of the latter’s father, Gaétan Hébert, on January 22.

Hospitalized for some time at the Anna-Laberge hospital, in Châteauguay, on the South Shore of Montreal, the man died suddenly in the middle of the followingnoon, last Monday, in the company of an attendant who was assigned to his bedside due to his condition.

“My partner spoke with the nurses, the papers were supposed to be done immediately, if not the next morning,” remembers Stéphane Roch, who then contacted a funeral home in the region to make arrangements for the funeral.

PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE FAMILY

Véronique Hébert and her father, Gaétan Hébert

What was their surprise when, the following Thursday, this same salon contacted them once more to tell them that they had still not been able to recover the body of Gaétan Hébert.

“They tell me: ‘We’ve been trying to get the papers for two days, but they’re not ready,’” exclaims Mr. Roch. It’s really unbelievable. We had things to discuss with Gaétan’s family, whether we exposed him, we wanted to make the arrangements together. »

A computerized register

During the pandemic, Quebec expanded the use of the Demographic Events Information System (SIED), a computerized register into which all death bulletins are now completed electronically.

“A funeral home cannot expose, embalm or even take charge of a remains if this famous bulletin is not attributed to the funeral home in the computer system,” confirms the general director of the Corporation of Thanatologists of Quebec, Annie Saint -Pierre, who represents some 500 professionals in the funeral field.

Recovering a body without a family mandate and death certificate of the deceased is even illegal under the Funeral Activities Actshe adds.

This computer system having “facilitated and accelerated the procedures for releasing the remains”, a four-day delay in transmitting a death certificate is “unacceptable”, judges Annie Saint-Pierre.

I don’t understand it, it’s the first time I’ve heard it in a year and a half, something like that, because [le SIED] has made it possible to prevent doctors from going on vacation without having signed the death certificate, which was common before.

Annie Saint-Pierre, general director of the Corporation of thanatologists of Quebec

Despite two calls to the complaints department of the CISSS de la Montérégie-Ouest, to which Anna-Laberge reports, Gaétan Hébert’s death certificate was only finally sent to his family on Friday.

And this, following the intervention of the office of the MP for Châteauguay, Marie-Belle Gendron, specifies Stéphane Roch.

Too late to be exposed?

Friday, the CISSS de la Montérégie-Ouest confirmed that there had indeed been “a delay between the death and the signing of the death certificate”, without specifying what this was due to.

“This is an unusual event and the CISSS de la Montérégie-Ouest is concerned by the situation. An internal investigation is underway to determine what caused this,” explains its communications and public affairs department.

“We would like to offer our most sincere apologies to the family and know that measures will be taken to prevent this type of situation from happening once more,” it added.

But Stéphane Roch fears that it is now too late to expose his father-in-law. At least that’s what the funeral home reportedly told him.

It is often said that the health care system is collapsing. Well, it’s already collapsed, in my opinion.

Stéphane Roch

The general director of the Corporation of Thanatologists, Annie Saint-Pierre, is less categorical than the funeral home. “There are many things that are possible today, it depends on a host of factors,” she explains.

Regardless, Gaétan Hébert’s family should never have experienced such a situation, according to them. “It’s not in anyone’s interest not to sign the death certificate. It congests morgues and has repercussions for families. »

Learn more

63,310 Number of death reports in Quebec, per year, on average, for ten years

source: Department of Health and Social Services

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