Families decry conditions at Lakeshore General

Woman says room in which her father contracted C. difficile stinks of urine

On March 30, Bruce Malcolm was admitted to Lakeshore General Hospital after suffering a heart attack. Exactly six weeks later, his daughter says, she was told her 82-year-old father had contracted the C. difficile superbug while recuperating in the hospital.

“I’m very disappointed and I’m very angry,” Caroline Malcolm told the Montreal Gazette on Thursday. “My father’s room here is dirty, it’s cramped and it stinks of urine.”

A new study by the Quebec government has found the Lakeshore posted the sharpest continuous increase in its rates of C. difficileassociated diarrhea of any hospital in the province since 2011, raising questions about its infection-control practices.

A day after the Gazette reported the study’s findings, Caroline Malcolm came forward to talk about her father’s experience at the Lakeshore, providing the newspaper with pictures of her father’s room.

The pictures show the rusty metal shelves of a medicine cabinet stocked with some biological samples and a grimy tiled corner that looks like it hasn’t been cleaned in some time.

“If you go visit this unit, you would say it’s disgusting,” she said.

“I don’t think they’re cleaning the rooms properly. They’re sloppy.”

Malcolm wasn’t entirely critical of the Lakeshore staff, however. She praised the quality of the food served as well as the care and attention the hospital’s physiotherapists have paid to her father. But she did criticize the housekeeping and the high turnover of nurses and doctors working in the geriatric unit on 4 South.

Lakeshore officials would not comment directly on the case of Bruce Malcolm, but they did acknowledge there are problems at the Pointe-Claire hospital.

“We are aware that the current incidence rate (of C. difficile infections) is not yet satisfactory, but the reduction is a step in the right direction, and our staff will continue to work tirelessly to reduce it further,” the West Island health authority said in a statement.

The Lakeshore has reduced its C. difficile rate to 10.8 infections per 10,000 patient days last year from 12.3 the year before. The hospital has the highest rate in the city; the provincial rate stands at 5.9.

Officials insisted all patient rooms are cleaned daily.

“As for the state of the room, please note that all rooms are cleaned every single day, although the times may vary due to various factors (like) admissions and discharge of patients.”

“There is a renovation program already in place,” the statement added.

“Phase 1 consisted of four new rooms in the intensive care unit. Further care units will also be renovated in the future, according to the best standards. The renovated units will become private or semiprivate.”

Bruce Malcolm was convalescing in the Royal Victoria Hospital at the Glen site before being transferred to the Lakeshore. His daughter said her father had a spacious and ultra-clean private room at the Glen site. He has been sharing a room with another patient at the Lakeshore.

Ironically, she added, her father will be allowed a private room only if the other patient does not test positive for C. difficile — meaning her father would have to be isolated.

Meanwhile, the son of another patient who later died spoke about his father’s experience in contracting C. difficile six months ago at the Lakeshore.

“I’m furious,” Allan Sonac said. “I’m really, really upset with the Lakeshore.”

Sonac said his father picked up a C. difficile infection in November after having a urinary catheter installed in the hospital. On Dec. 22, Bill Sonac died at Jewish General Hospital from complications arising from C. difficile, his son said.

Lakeshore officials would not comment on Bill Sonac’s case, either, citing patient confidentiality.

If you go visit this unit, you would say it’s disgusting. I don’t think they’re cleaning the rooms properly. They’re sloppy.