Verdun Hospital facing language issues - again

The daughter of a 73-year-old woman is demanding the Verdun Hospital take action over language issues.

She claims her mother was yelled at for asking for help in English. This isn’t the first time Verdun has been in the spotlight due to language.

Harriet Coveyduck has emphysema, and so sought medical care at Verdun Hospital when she caught the flu.

“On Sunday, I arrived here and my mum was facing the window and she was crying,” said Lorie Martin, her daughter.

Martin’s mother explained that a worker had entered her room and Coveyduck had asked her for help.

“‘If you can't speak French, we're not going to offer you any services,’ was what was yelled at her and she walked away from my mother's room,” said Martin.

Martin said her mother was very shaken, so the daughter went down the hallway and demanded to see a supervisor.

“That's when she told me, ‘This is a French hospital and English isn't a priority,’” said Martin.

Last year, a West Island man told CTV that not only was he not able to receive services for his 90-year-old father in English but that he was chastised for the quality of his own French.

In January 2014, there was a similar complaint about a nurse who also refused to speak English.

“It's always Verdun. What's going on?” said patients' rights advocate Paul Brunet, who said there's a simple solution: the health authority must follow the law.

“In Quebec, in acute care units, you must offer services and healthcare in French and in English,” said Brunet.

On Wednesday afternoon, an administrator from CIUSSS Centre-Sud, the health authority that runs the hospital, sent CTV a statement saying it is investigating the matter.

“We sincerely regret the difficult situation that occurred with this patient. Verdun hospital employees, while offering services in French, do respect the right for each allophone or English-speaking person to receive services in their own language, according to the Health and Social Service Act. Management and personnel subscribe entirely to this orientation,” wrote CIUSSS Centre-Sud spokesperson Annie Charbonneau.

The health authority is investigating, and is also in the process of updating the list of English services in all its institutions. Employees will receive related training.

Lorie Martin said she's been invited to meet with administrators Thursday, and is happy her concerns are being heard.

“It's heartbreaking for my mom to have to go through this while she's sick,” she said.