Man dies outside Trois-Rivires hospital after waiting 2 hours to be admitted

The ambulance service in Trois-Rivires, Que. is sounding the alarm after an elderly man died in a hospital's garage this week, after waiting more than two hours fortreatment.

It's a situation paramedics in the Mauricie region had been fearing, saying long backlogs at the hospital'semergency department are becoming increasingly common.

According to Richard Fournier, the vice president of the ambulance union in the Mauricie (CAM),paramedics picked up the manand took him to the Centre hospitalier affili universitaire rgional (CHAUR).

When they arrived, he saidthere were alreadyfive or six otherambulances waiting in the garage.

Fournier said the patient was triaged by a nurse who determined his condition was not a priority,andhe was forced to wait in the ambulance.

"What we're seeing right now is that it's not a one-off situation, it's recurrent," he said of the backlog.

After a little more than two hours, Fournier said the patient went into cardiac arrest. He said paramedics did everything they could to revive him and notified the hospital, but the man died in the ambulance.

"If the hospital had been able to take care of him, to take himto see a doctor more quickly ...well, the patient would probably still be alive today," said Fournier.

Health board to investigate

Last week, the CAM ambulance union denounced long wait times at the Trois-Rivireshospital, saying that in recent weeks, up to nine ambulances could be seen waiting outside theCHAUR at once.

The regional health board, theCentre intgr universitaire de sant et de services sociaux de la Mauricie-et-du-Centre-du-Qubec (CIUSSS MCQ), said this isn't the norm, and blamed the backlogonoccasional peak periods.

The CIUSSS MCQ confirmed the man's death and says it will investigate the circumstances.