An absolutely gut-wrenching investigative report on the nursing home deaths in Quebec during the first COVID wave. I cried reading it. There are no words.
Please don’t read if you are at a low point in your day. I don’t normally issue trigger warnings but trust me.
[…] Clarissa links to an article on an investigation into nursing home deaths in Quebec: […]
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Perhaps things are not quite as bad as this, but I sometimes wonder what is going on these days in the hospitals which have all instituted these no-visitor policies. Are patients actually being looked-after? Or are they languishing without attention and medication and with no one to advocate for them? We’ll never know, I guess, unless something like this comes out.
My little nephew’s pediatrician suspects the boy has an ear infection. But she’s responsible and doesn’t want to diagnose the kid sight unseen over the phone. She wants to examine him. This is not allowed in clinics, only emergency rooms which are overwhelmed.
So get this. My sister and the brave pediatrician concocted a plan where they meet seemingly by accident next to an elevator, and the doctor will look into his ear real fast before anybody catches them and render her diagnosis right there, between the elevator and the toilet.
The boy already had COVID but this changes nothing. The mom and the doc have to conduct this clandestine operation like they are doing something evil.
“concocted a plan where they meet seemingly by accident next to an elevator”
This sounds like Eastern Europe in the 80s-90s… all that’s missing is a bottle of vodka as a thank you. At least you have practice. But… is this really the direction Canadians want to be going in?
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I’ve spent some time in the hospital recently (in Montreal) and cannot complain about the accessibility of nurses or medications and such kind of things. That said, we (my wife was allowed to visit, and this was not some special under the table deal, this was universal policy; every day at 9PM they announced over PA system that now is the time for visitors to leave) chatted with some nurses and they admitted to being seriously understaffed. Also, my case was likely easier than average for that particular ward, so I required less attention of the nurses to begin with.
The main issue I have with the medical system is different – the moment one is discharged from the hospital, it becomes exceedingly difficult to contact anybody on the inside. The answer to any question is – “if your temperature is above [certain level] and/or you feel unwell, go to the IR”…
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What happened in Spanish nursing homes in early 2020 was worse. It was essentially the same problem as in Canada, with a Spanish budget.
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Ran across this today:
https://theexpose.uk/2021/07/31/murder-in-the-care-home-pandemic-plan/
Not sure how reliable the source is, but they’re alleging that something similar (but less neglect, more purposeful euthanasia) happened in UK care homes, and that it was part of a pandemic action plan laid out years before.
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