ER staff should have helped, says Quebec man stranded outside hospital with sudden paralysis

Louise Martineau still remembers her state of panic as she stood three metres from the doors of the emergency department at a Quebec City hospital, unsure how she would get her husband inside.

Earlier that evening, on Sept. 12, 2024, 73-year-old Philippe de Passillé felt an onset of pain on the left side of his stomach, under his chest, which quickly spread to his thigh and leg.

His leg got worse and by the time the couple made it to Enfant-Jésus-CHU de Québec hospital, he said the limb was "completely paralyzed."

Martineau was trying to figure out how she would transfer her more than 250-pound husband from the car and into a wheelchair after emergency room staff told her that outside the hospital walls, they couldn't provide assistance. 

"I'm 72 years old and I'm only five feet," said Martineau. "These things have never happened to me."

Despite pleading with staff at the reception desk for help, Martineau says they refused — something the couple only later found out went against hospital protocol.

"Louise parked just next to the emergency door," said de Passillé. "We were traumatized by this situation."

Having to rely on the help of a Good Samaritan who stepped in to offer a hand, the couple has since brought forward a complaint against the hospital.

Following de Passillé's recovery and rehabilitation after spending weeks in the hospital, he plans on bringing a complaint to Quebec's ombudsman to highlight the need for all hospital staff to be trained on emergency protocols to prevent similar situations.

At the end of December, the service quality and complaints commissioner for the hospital filed a report on the incident and made two recommendations, expressing "deep empathy" for the couple.

"I understand how challenging it must have been not to receive the immediate assistance you needed in this distressing moment," the report reads. 

The document, obtained by CBC, says that despite verifications, staff on duty that day "do not have precise recollection of the specific circumstances of your arrival."

Since the incident occurred months prior to the couple's report, the commissioner said the security footage was no longer on file, as tapes are only conserved in the system for 30 days.

But the commissioner said that according to information from the personnel, "there exists a certain confusion between the different members of the emergency staff regarding their obligations to assist in situations such as the one you have experienced."