Quebecers have to pay $429 a day to stay in hospital while waiting for a place in a CHSLD; however, in Estrie alone, more than 2,000 patients had to pay for this service in order to avoid being uprooted and sent away from their loved ones.
The opposition parties also strongly denounced this practice on Wednesday in the National Assembly.
Leah Fournier and her daughter Victoria are very close. The 86-year-old lady lived in a residence for semi-autonomous people in Cowansville until a nasty fall brought her to the hospital. When she was discharged, her condition prevented her from returning to her residence and she was offered a transitional place at the CHSLD in Granby.
“I had suggested four CHLSDs closer to my home to be able to visit it regularly, but Granby is too far,” said Victoria Della Porta.
Faced with this refusal, the hospital asked Mr.me Della Porta to sign a document which stipulates that each day spent at the hospital center, once you have your transitional place, will be billed as an uninsured service at a cost of $429. “I said no because it’s not proper, it’s not humane to send my mother away. And there you are threatened to pay that amount.”
Victoria Della Porta stood tall and didn’t sign, but thousands do. Over the past 3 years in Estrie, 2,152 patients have paid fees of $429 per day, for a total of approximately $4 million.
“It’s an excessive amount,” commented Liberal André Fortin.
“Some commentators say it’s scandalous, I think the word is not too weak,” added Parti Québécois MP Joël Arsenault.
“Things are not going well in the network at the moment” said for his part the solidarity Vincent Marissal.
The director of specialized geriatric services at the CIUSSS de l’Estrie-CHUS, Danika Manseau, explained that the establishment limits travel to 70 kilometers and that the law authorizes this practice to free up hospital beds: “We are sensitive to what these families are going through, but we have to make sure that all our precious beds are occupied in the most efficient way possible.
The council for the protection of the sick is rather of the opinion that the right of the patient to choose his establishment must prevail. He invites the families affected to sue the CIUSSS for small claims to be reimbursed.
