Woman who said hospital ignored her pleas died of natural causes: coroner - Montreal Gazette

Selasa, 23 November 2021

Woman who said hospital ignored her pleas died of natural causes: coroner - Montreal Gazette

Before her admission to Charles-Le Moyne Hospital, her general state of health was “extremely precarious," according to a coroner's report.

Author of the article:

Susan Schwartz • Montreal Gazette

In a video posted to Facebook, Mireille Ndjomouo said she was given penicillin despite telling hospital staff she was allergic to it. Photo by via Facebook

Felicie Mireille Akoko Ndjomouo died of natural causes — multi-system organ failure secondary to a form of lymphoma — according to a report by coroner Amélie Lavigne made public on Tuesday.

Ndjomouo, a 44-year-old Cameroonian refugee and mother of three, died March 9 at the Jewish General Hospital following her transfer the previous day from Charles-Le Moyne Hospital, where she had spent a week.

From her bed at the Longueuil hospital, Ndjomouo made an emotional video claiming her condition was not being properly addressed — “It is as if they are killing me bit by bit,” she said — and imploring the Cameroonian community to share the video on social media. “I am asking the doctor to transfer me to another hospital, where I would be better followed, but he doesn’t want to,” she said.

After the video was posted on Facebook the morning of March 7, allegations of racism, negligence and error began to swirl on social media and in published reports. Comparisons were drawn with the video by Joyce Echaquan , the Atikamekw mother of seven who recorded hospital workers making disparaging and racist comments about her shortly before her death on Sept. 28, 2020.

The type of lymphoma Ndjomouo had, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, is among the most frequent malignancies in people with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Although it is aggressive and often diagnosed at an advanced stage, it is also less common now that antiretroviral therapy for HIV infection is available. But Ndjomouo, who knew she had the virus, had refused treatment, according to the report.

Before her admission to Charles-Le Moyne, her general state of health was “extremely precarious,” coroner Lavigne wrote in her report, dated Sept. 15. Having HIV put her at risk of opportunistic infections and she’d had repeated bouts of pneumonia, the report states. Notes in Ndjomouo’s medical file indicate she’d known for several years that she had HIV and that, despite explanations by her treating physician about the progression of the illness and the slow but inevitable deterioration of her immune system, she “categorically refused all treatments proposed.”

She was admitted to Charles-Le Moyne March 1 with pain in her left hip and multiple solid lesions under the skin on her torso, neck and back, the report states — and a diagnosis of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, by then widespread, was made. In the days that followed, Ndjomouo showed signs of fatigue, headache, weakness and generalized pain.

The report states that “despite numerous recommendations by the medical team, she signed a form specifying that she refused all treatment.”

On March 3, the team at Charles-Le Moyne discussed with her the possibility of surgery and its associated risks, the report states. “Because Madame Akoko Ndjomouo still refused the treatment proposed and feared the medical profession, this upset her greatly,” Lavigne wrote.

Believing it was the care she had received in hospital that had caused the lesions and the swelling, she asked for a transfer to another hospital. Several members of the Cameroonian community went to Charles-Le Moyne on Ndjomouo’s behalf, a spokesperson for the family said at the time.

Following numerous requests by Ndjomouo and her family, she was transferred to the Jewish General on March 8, a Monday. Doctors found swelling under her skin and lesions throughout her chest and abdomen. Her condition deteriorated quickly and she was transferred to intensive care, where she died March 9.

In an autopsy March 12 at the McGill University Health Centre, the pathologist found that the lymphoma had infiltrated “the structures and tissues of the body.” These findings suggest multi-organ failure secondary to the proliferation of the lymphoma, the report said.

In her video, Ndjomouo said she had been injected with penicillin although staff knew “full well that I am allergic.” In response to concerns expressed by her family about whether she had received the antibiotic, Lavigne did “a comprehensive review” of her medical file, she wrote.

She found that Ndjomouo’s penicillin allergy was clearly mentioned in the file and that there was no record of penicillin having been administered, she wrote — and that the skin reactions observed by the family were not the result of penicillin having been given but, rather, the lymphoma.

sschwartz@postmedia.com

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