Kidney transplant scheduled then cancelled in Sherbrooke: “Unacceptable,” says Christian Dubé

The announcement to a patient in Val-des-Sources of an upcoming organ transplant without first checking the surgeon's availability is "unacceptable," said Health Minister Christian Dubé.

• Also read: After 3 years of waiting, she sees her kidney transplant canceled due to a lack of surgeons

The minister was hounded on Tuesday during question period at the National Assembly about the situation experienced by Andrée-Ann Lemay-Laroche last Saturday.

Around 4 p.m. on Saturday, Ms. Lemay-Laroche was called by a doctor from CHUS-Fleurimont who informed her that a compatible kidney was available for her.

The transplant was scheduled for Monday, but three hours later, a second call cut short the celebrations.

The only surgeon in Estrie capable of performing kidney transplants was on vacation and would necessarily not be able to perform the transplant.

"How can you call someone to tell them they can have their transplant without checking that the doctor was available? The doctor was on vacation. Unacceptable. Unacceptable," the minister repeated in response to questions.

The medical and professional services director at the CIUSSS de l'Estrie-CHUS, Dr. Adam Frenette, admitted yesterday in an interview with TVA Nouvelles that the hospital center did not have a collaboration agreement with other hospitals in Quebec in the event of a shortage of services for a kidney transplant.

"The government's job was simple. Find a bed, find a surgeon. The government failed," emphasized Liberal health critic André Fortin. "We're going to ensure that when we have service coverage in each of Quebec's regions, it's respected. Is it a question of doctors, room availability, interfaces between different establishments? That's what I'm looking into," the minister continued.

The president of the Council for the Protection of the Sick, Paul Brunet, also criticized the management of this situation by the CIUSSS de l'Estrie-CHUS, as well as by Santé Québec, on Tuesday.

"The burden falls on the patient, and they're the ones who end up paying for it. Let's remember that a kidney is stored for 36 hours. If we had had a little initiative, we would have had time to send the patient with the organ to a place where a doctor specialized in the matter could have performed the operation. I'm very disappointed," he said in an interview with Mario Dumont on Tuesday morning.

Mr. Brunet believes that the CIUSSS and Santé Québec "lacked initiative" in not finding another hospital or another doctor willing to operate on the patient.

"That would have been effective, productive," he suggested.

Transplant Québec, which responded by email this morning, considers the situation experienced by this patient to be "excessively unfortunate."

"The current organ donation system rests on solid, but fragmented foundations," the organization commented. "Regional disparities in referrals and access to care, among other things, limit its effectiveness. This reality demonstrates once again the need to review the legislative framework surrounding donation and transplantation to improve Quebec's performance, join the best-performing states in this area, and help save even more lives," Transplant Québec said in an email.

Transplant Québec refuses to say whether the organ promised to Andrée-Ann could have been donated to another patient waiting.

"If the hospital cannot proceed with the transplant for any reason, the organ allocation process will continue and it will be offered by Transplant Québec to the medical team at the hospital that is caring for the next person on the waiting list," the organization stated.

"It is very unlikely that organs will go unused given that Quebec has numerous transplant programs," concluded Transplant Quebec.