Hull hospital probes death following transfer to Ottawa

Gatineau's Hull hospital and the Outaouaishealthagencyare trying todetermine whetherthey could have saved aman's lifeSaturday, when a lack of surgeons forcedthe western Quebec hospital to transfer him to Ottawa.

Jean-Philippe Rochon, 22, was riding his motorcycle on Highway 366 Saturday in Val-des-Monts,Que., about 20 kilometres north of Gatineau, when a car struck him.

He was sent to the emergency ward of Hull hospital —the Outaouais region's designated trauma centre — but there was no trauma surgeon on duty.After the man spent more than an hourthere, the hospitalwas forced to transferhim across the Ottawa River to the Civic campus of the Ottawa Hospital.

'When we're talking about trauma, the first hour is very important.' —Guy Morissette, Outaouais Health Agency

The man died of his injuries.

Guy Morissette, head of the Outaouais health agency, acknowledged that delays in treatment can be dangerous in such cases.

"When we're talking about trauma, the first hour is very important," he said, adding that western Quebec patients can't be transferred directly to Ottawa hospitals from the crash site because "the network is not built like that."

He said officials arelooking into whatcan be done when the Hull hospital cannot offerthe required trauma services.

Denis St-Jean, spokesman forthe Hull hospital, said hospital staffmembersacted the way they were supposed to under the circumstances, but an internal reviewof the case has been launched to tell administrators whether some procedures need to be changed.

He said hospital staff knew they would be short-staffed over the weekend, and had alerted its partners, butpatients are only sent to Ottawa in "life-and-death" cases.

The director of Gatineau's health services, André Rodier, said Tuesdaythere isn't necessarily a link between the man's death and his transfer between hospitals.

But he admitted that there was an unavoidable gap in services over the weekend and it worried him.

"Our critical mass of resources is not sufficient," he said in French, adding that the agency is working with its surgeons to deal with the situation and is trying to recruit more surgeons.

However, he said the Quebec Health Ministry's recognition of the Outaouais region as having special status because it borders Ontario and the resulting plan of action has helped this summer.

That plan included a $1,000 bonus for employees of Hull and Gatineau hospitals who postponed one week of their vacation, and the bonus was accepted by 41 employees at the hospitals, including 26 nurses.

Without it, the summer would have been even more difficult, Rodier said.