Quebec coroner’s office to investigate death of woman at Montreal hospital ER

The Quebec coroner’s office has opened an investigation into the death of an elderly woman at the Jewish General Hospital’s emergency room.

As Global News first reported on Tuesday, the 84-year-old woman was brought to hospital by ambulance on Nov. 26.

Staff who spoke to Global News on condition of anonymity said the woman was assessed as a Level 3 emergency.

Placed in a corridor on a stretcher while being given four litres of oxygen, she was found unresponsive some two hours later.

Staff claim that given her condition, she should have been assigned a bed where she would have been adequately monitored, possibly preventing her death.

In an email to Global News, the regional health authority overseeing the hospital reiterated it could not comment on the matter saying: “CIUSSS West-Central Montreal is obliged to protect the confidentiality and privacy of users…User safety remains a top priority for our CIUSSS.”