MUHC investigating death of Indigenous woman who left hospital without being treated

An Indigenous womanwhose medical insurance card had beenstolenwalked into Montreal's McGill University Health Centre last February, only to walk out again when she was told it would cost more than $1,000 to see a doctor.

KimberlyGloade, 43, died at home around two months later from cirrhosis. Now her family wants to know why no one at the hospital made it clear toGloadethather inability to pay should not have stopped her from receiving medical care.

"We would have understood and wouldn't have felt the way we feel today if the health servicesif the hospital she went to and the nurse at the administration would have tried to help her," her uncle, JasonBarnaby, told CBC News from Burnt Church First Nation, N.B., whereGloadewas from.

"If she would have passed [after receiving care], we would have understood and we would have thanked them."

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A coroner's report intoGloade'sdeath notes that althoughhercirrhosis may have been too advanced to prevent her death, she died without having a doctor explain what was happening to her body.

"This is not about preventing a death, which may have been inevitable, but simply about the minimal accompaniment that decency requires in the face of death from a society worthy of its name," coroner Jacques Ramsay wrote in his report.

'Something obviously happened here'

The McGillUniversity HealthCentre (MUHC)has opened an investigation into Gloade'streatment. Its policyis to treat everyone who walks through the door, regardless of whether they have a health insurance card or whether they're able to afford hospitalfees.

A hospital official saidGloadewastriagedappropriately, but that it is unclear what happened next.

According toDr. EwaSidorowicz, the MUHC's head of professional services, the hospital's investigation will examine if she was refused treatment and if it was made clear the hospital would treat her regardless of her ability to pay.

The MUHC'sbudget absorbs millions of dollars every year inunpaid medicalfees. It's just part ofbusiness, Sidorowiczsaid,"so something obviously happened here."

Gloade's family believesstigma and racism may have affected the way she was treated at the MUHC.

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Whilevisiting his niecearound Christmas 2015,Barnabywalked around the city with her and several friends. He said they were taunted by police officers.

"I'm 100 per cent [certain] that Kim's death, and Kim's treatment by the health-care officials in Montreal and by the police in Montreal, is not an isolated case," he said.

Sidorowiczsaidthe MUHC'sprides itself on its relationship with Indigenouspeople, adding it hasdeveloped "culturally sensitive programs for patients from the First Nations."

The hospital's investigation will examine whetherthose policies were applied in Gloade's case.

"We need to put ourselves into the shoes of anyone who walks into the door to make them understand that no matter what their situation is, we will take care of them, and that's the bottom line,"Sidorowiczsaid.

"There cannot be a misunderstanding about that. And if there was one, we are devastated."

Plea for help in unmailed letter

Gloadehad been homeless in the past and was dealing with addiction, especially with alcohol, according toBarnaby, but was seeking help and had moved into an apartment.

Thereshe often welcomed her street family, a group of friends she'd taken under her wingwho called her "Mama Kim."

In early February,Gloade hadher purse stolen at a laundromat, she told her mother in anunmailedletter her family later found in her apartment.

The letter also mentions her trip tothe hospital with her boyfriend.

"Mom, it's me Kim! ... Sorry that I haven't called you in a while, but I've been having some problems with my health. To be honest, I can barely walk,"Gloadewrites. "I can't hide it anymore. I am really sick."

She wrote that once the couple got to the emergency room, she was told "it would cost us $1,400 to see a doctor. Imagine!"

She askedher mother to send her status card so she could try to get a new health insurance card.

"No IDin Montreal, you may as well be an immigrant in Alabama," she wrote.

Barnabyhopes his niece's death will spur government officials to appoint Indigenous liaisons in institutions like hospitals and courts to provide "a little more cultural awareness."

WhenBarnabydrives past Montreal, he stops by Peace Park, where Gloadeonce slept and where some of her ashes were spread.

"I sit there and I pray, and I talk to her,"Barnabysaid.