Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé is rejecting the opposition’s calls for a coroner’s inquest after a 65-year-old man’s family said he died after a long wait for emergency medical care.
Richard Genest’s family say he had to be transported 135 kilometres by ambulance Tuesday evening because the closest emergency room in Senneterre, in the Abitibi-Temiscamingue region, is only open eight hours a day.
Genest’s son says his father had to wait 90 minutes for an ambulance that originally took him to a hospital in Val d’Or before taking him to a hospital in Amos, where he died in the elevator on the way to the operating table.
Both the Parti Québécois and the Liberals are blaming Dubé for the decision to close the Senneterre emergency room, and all three of the opposition parties in the legislature are calling for a coroner’s inquest to investigate whether that factored into the death.
Dubé today dismissed the idea, saying the coroner has already determined there’s no reason to investigate.
The head of the regional health board said Wednesday in a statement that a review had determined that proper protocols were followed and the emergency room closure was not a factor in Genest’s death.
© 2021 The Canadian Press
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