Elderly residents left soiled and unfed after their caregivers fled the premises, 31 deaths in the space of a few weeks: a nursing home in Montreal has become the symbol of the terrible toll coronavirus is taking in Canada's long-term care homes.

The bleak situation discovered at the Residence Herron, in the Montreal suburb of Dorval, has triggered an investigation for gross negligence and a national reckoning among Canadians about the conditions in long-term care homes which account for half the country's more than 1,250 Covid-19 deaths.

"I was sick to my stomach, I was really sick to my stomach," said Moira Davis, whose father Stanley Pinnell died at the Herron facility on 8 April.

"All of a sudden these questions started flying through my head, 'What could we have done differently? Why did nobody tell us?... Why, why, why?'"



From her home in Creighton, Saskatchewan, Ms Davis said she became concerned about her 96-year-old father, who is believed to have contracted coronavirus a week before his death, as he sounded weaker and weaker on the phone each time they spoke.

She said Residence Herron was not unique. "There are other homes, I am sure, in every country of the world, where families have experienced a similar situation.


A funeral home worker removes a body from Residence Herron in Montreal, Canada

In announcing the fatalities this week, Quebec Premier Francois Legault said it appeared to be a case of "gross negligence" with just two nurses had been left to care for 130 elderly residents. 

Further fuelling public outrage, Canadian media also revealed that the home's owner had once been convicted of drug trafficking, fraud and tax evasion.


Local health authorities have now taken control of the facility, and a muilti-million class action has been launched against the owner alleging "inhumane and degrading maltreatment" for failing to ensure continued and adequate care.

"On April 7, my mother was left in her wheelchair with a full, soiled diaper for three hours because no one responded" to the emergency button and her cries for help, Peter Wheeland told AFP, adding that she had diarrhea, one of the symptoms of the new coronavirus. 

"We weren't able to communicate with anyone: We called the nurses' station, we left messages, we did everything we could do to reach them and there was no answer," he said.
