Candida Macarine

By Chelsey St-Pierre
The Suburban

The West Island health authority (CIUSSS-ODIM) along with an Emergency Room (ER) doctor and nurse are being sued for $1 million by the family of Candida Macarine, who died on a hospital room floor in the ER at the Lakeshore General Hospital (LGH) in 2021. The 86-year-old woman was found dead on the floor while she was in a negative pressure room in the ER. Despite months of warnings from staff to managers that the room in question is problematic as it is difficult to maintain visibility and monitor patients there, she was placed in that room

On the day of her death, the family was told that she died of cardiac arrest. They later found out from the news, on the eve of her funeral, about the events surrounding her death. “The worst and most devastating thing was that we were only guessing and analyzing from the news that this was our mother,” the deceased patient’s son, Placido Macarine, told reporters.

In March of that year, the family demanded an investigation but were disappointed when Quebec coroner Amélie Lavigne concluded that negligence and abandonment had not played a part in Macarine’s death. In October, 2022, the Centre for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRAAR) drafted a letter to Quebec’s Chief Coroner’s demanding that the investigation be reopened, stating that the family and CRARR have serious and legitimate reasons to believe that the report made by coroner Lavigne “contains major omissions of crucial and pertinent evidence.” The family, supported by the CRARR, suspects that racism may have played a role in the negligence, ultimately leading to the potentially avoidable death of their mother. Despite the demands, the Coroner’s investigation was never re-opened or reviewed. The family did not give up and requested Macarine’s complete medical file. The medical file and the allegedly incomplete Coroner’s report were used to build their case and target the lawsuit to one ER doctor, a nurse and the local Health Authority in charge of overseeing the LGH.

The lawsuit alleges that Macarine’s death was avoidable and caused by inadequate medical care that was covered up. “The medical services and care provided to the plaintiffs’ mother throughout her stay at the hospital’s ER were wholly inadequate, causing crucial, cumulative incidents that led to the avoidable death. Staff at the hospital purposely and voluntarily concealed critical information from the family. As such, the defendant’s staff wrongfully and negligently failed to inform the plaintiffs about pertinent facts leading to their mother’s death.”

On March 23, 2021 the CIUSSS-ODIM admitted in a statement to the press that “although the investigation is still ongoing, the CIUSSS is already able to say that its communications with the family were incomplete, especially at the time of the announcement of the death.”

In response to a request made by The Suburban to the West Island Health Authority on its current position vis-à-vis the lawsuit, CIUSSS spokesperson Alexandre Cadieux stated that the staff at the West Island CIUSSS understand that these times are difficult for loved ones of the patient. “We are available and listen to families when situations like this arise. The family was met by members of the management of our establishment. Given that the case you mention has now been brought to court, we will refrain from commenting on this specific case so as not to compromise the ongoing process.”

Candida Macarine was a mother of 10 children. The lawsuit is claiming $100,000 for each of her surviving eight children and the families of her two deceased children.She died just hours after being admitted to the ER with respiratory distress.

On May 9, the family and the CRARR, who have supported them throughout this process, will hold a press conference to discuss the lawsuit launched earlier this week.

In the meantime, Cadieux highlighted a number of changes that have already taken place in order to improve patient care, including: monthly meetings of experts including the medical team to proactively analyze adverse events occurring to improve practices, the integration of four nursing advisors specializing in emergencies to supervise and support new nurses, offer training, and strengthen nursing practice, the designation of staff members to regularly monitor patients at risk of falling, the application of 15-minute rounds, which allows areas away from the emergency to be monitored to ensure the safety and comfort of patients. n