Hospital orderly, caught on video mocking Joyce Echaquan before she died, tells inquest she meant no harm

A hospital orderly who was captured on video criticizing Joyce Echaquanshortly before her death testified todaythat she meant no harm with her comments.

The orderly, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, was fired from the Centre hospitalier rgional de Lanaudire in Joliette, Que., after the incident and testified about what happenedat a coroner's inquestWednesday in Trois-Rivires.

Coroner Ghane Kamel isinvestigating the death of Echaquan, a 37-year-old Atikamekw mother of seven who filmed herself being insultedand mocked by female staffnot long before she diedat the hospital northeast of Montreal last September.

In the video Echaquan recorded,the orderly is heard saying: "What would your children think, seeing you like this?" And later: "You made bad choices."

At that moment, Echaquanwas in a private roomwhere she had just been transferred, because she had been screaming and scaringother patients in thehallway, according to testimony heard on Wednesday.

Based onthe timeline given by witnesses, Echaquanwassitting on the floor in the bathroomwhen the orderly walked in.

She told the inquestshe just wanted to motivate her patient to get upand thought that talking about her children would "bring her back to reality."

The orderlyinsisted there was no racism or bias against Echaquan, although she acknowledged she assumed Echaquan "had made bad choices" because a nurse told herthat Echaquanwas in withdrawal.

The orderly's testimony, and the fact that the video Echaquan recorded was played in the courtroom for the first time,set off a wave of emotions Wednesday, with Echaquan's familyweepingas they watched the footageand heard her crying out in pain.

Several people had to leave the room.

The witness said she was doing the best she could under the circumstances that day, with very little personnel on hand.

"There was no malice," she said.

The other nurse featured in the video is expected to testify Thursday morning.

The Grand Chief of the Atikamekw First Nation, Constant Awashish, said the orderly's comments were hard to swallow.

"I'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt, but it's kind of hard to believe given the way it was said," said Awashish, outside the courthouse.

Paul-mile Ottawa, the chief of Echaquan's community ofManawan, said it was extremely painful for herhusband and mother to watch the videobut said they wanted to stay in the courtroom to see the process through until the end.

Ottawa said Thursday's testimonies showed there isn't "a single health-care worker" responsible for her deathbut rather "the administrationwho think they can manage such a hugehospital with a reduced workforce."

Inquest hears Echaquanwas restrained, left alone

Staffing shortages and lack of resources were central to the testimony heard earlier in the day.

Two other hospital staff members, whose namesare also protected underthepublication ban, said that was one of the reasons why Echaquan was restrained and left alone in her hospital roomfor 40 minutesafter a nurse gave her a sedative shortly before she diedlast September.

Apatient attendant told the inquestthatleaving a restrained patient unsupervised wentagainst protocol at the Joliette hospital.

"There was no one with Joyce," said the attendant, who had topause several timesduring her testimony Wednesday to catch her breathas she teared up.

WATCH | Staff at hospital where Joyce Echaquan died testify at inquest:

Coroners inquiry hears from staff at hospital where Joyce Echaquan died

3 years ago

Duration 1:59

A coroners inquiry into the death of Joyce Echaquan heard testimony from hospital staff on duty when she died, including the orderly caught mocking the Indigenous woman on video.

The patient attendant provided more insight Wednesday into what happened the morning of Echaquan's death on Sept. 28, 2020. Shetestified that Echaquanwas calm andchatting on the phone when shefirst saw her at around 8 a.m.

But when the patient attendantcame back from her break ataround 10:15 a.m., Echaquan was kneeling on her hospital bed, banging her head against the wall and screaming.

The attendant tried to calm her down."But I couldn't even catch her eye it was empty, like she wasn't there," she said.

Echaquan was taken to a private room and given a sedative by a nurse, at which point she had calmed down. The attendantwas the only oneon the floor that day,had 38 people to care for, and went back on the floor.

"It was chaotic."

At 11 a.m.,things went from bad to worse, she testified. Her colleague called her into Echaquan's room again.

She saw Echaquan had restraints on her feet and hands and said she was asked to add a waist belt, which is used to properly secure patients. She told the inquest that such restraints are used when patients are a threat to themselves or others.

The patient attendant said she didn't know what had happened before that.

"They just told me she was lying on the bathroom floor," she told the coroner.

Nurse stopped Facebook Live video

During that time, she said the nurse told her in a panic that Echaquan"was filming us. She filmed everything. I deleted it."

TheFacebook Live video thatEchaquan shared that day showed a nurse and another patient attendant who was in the room calling Echaquanstupidand saying she'd be better off dead.

Phone records disclosed to the inquest as evidence last week showed no video was actually deleted from Echaquan's phone, however the FacebookLive was stopped.

Following hospital protocol for whenever a person is filmed, the patient attendant testified she went to inform her superior about the video and then returned to her other patients.

Student nurse, attendant testifyabout transfer

During this time, a student nurse in charge of Echaquan's floor was trying to locate someone to supervise Echaquan.

The student nurse testified she had never dealt with a patient in restraints before that day, and wasn't exactly sure how to handle the situation. She said a doctor approved her request to find somebody to watch Echaquan while she was restrained, but seeing asthere was no one available, she was told to "figure it out."

Several staff members were on lunch break, and the student nurse said she had several other patients in serious condition to monitor.

Forty minutes later, with the student nurse still unable to find anyone to watch Echaquan, a resident gastroenterologist who wanted to talk toEchaquan about her treatment, told the student nurse shewas "acting out." The student nurse testified that this was an expression used to describe a patient who is pretending to be asleep to avoid questions.

The student nurse checked Echaquan's vital signs. "When I saw her, I knew right away she wasn't doing well."

Seeing her pulse was weak, she asked thatEchaquan betransferred to a resuscitation room, but again, she hadto wait and was told they were all full.

"I don't think I was taken seriously," the student nurse said, noting that shedecided to check herself. Shefound a bed was available, but had to wait ten more minutes before the transfer.

The patient attendant testified that she was called to Echaquan's room. When she arrived, she said Echaquan's daughter was there, but no other staff members were present.

The patient attendant testified thatshe knew right away something was wrong.

"I thought 'Oh my God, we have a problem.' "

She called for help, told her colleagues "she isn't breathing" and quickly broughtEchaquan to a resuscitation room.

Two patient attendants tried to resuscitate herfor 45 minutes, but it was in vain.

Divide between hospital staff, Atikamekw community

During her testimony, the patient attendant apologized to the family, and said she hoped reconciliationcould happen between the hospital and the Atikamekw community.

She said the language barrier had always been an obstacle to properly interacting with Atikamekw patients.

But since Echaquan's death, she said there's a divide that's been created.

"There's this fear we don't know what to say, and they seem to fear us."

She saida lot needs to change to improve relations, including more resources to translate Atikamekw at the ER andmore training, something that should have been done long before.

"No one ever listened, and someone had to die for things to get moving."