Canadian authorities are investigating the demise of a Black woman who died in a Montreal hospital two days after she posted a video expressing fear that healthcare workers were attempting to kill her on social media.
Mireille Ndjomouo, a 44-year-old Cameroonian and mother of three, died recently after posting the video alleging that medical staff of Charles-Le Moyne Hospital in the Montreal suburb of Longueuil was trying to kill her by injecting her with penicillin despite the staff’s awareness that she was allergic to the drug.
While begging to be transferred to another hospital through pleas translated from her native language, she said: “Help me, I don’t want to die and leave my kids. I’m suffocating. I’m allergic to penicillin but then they injected me with penicillin, knowing full well that I’m allergic.”
According to Montreal Gazette, Ndjomoumo went to the hospital on March 1 due to hip pain but was asked to isolate over concerns that she might have been infected with tuberculosis.
In a video shared on social media on March 7, Ndjomouo talked from her hospital bed. Her face was swollen with her breathing sounding labored. She revealed her stomach was swollen and that she was encountering pain and head-to-toe rash. She said she was given penicillin injection over a period of three days.
While asking the Cameroonian community share the video on social media, she said: “It is as if they are killing me bit by bit. My mouth is paralyzed, my face is also swollen…I’m not really the person you see on this video…I am slowly dying in this hospital…I am asking the doctor to transfer me to another hospital, where I would be better followed, but he doesn’t want to.”
After the video was shared, members of Cameroonian community and Ndjomouo’s sister showed up at the hospital and made arrangement for her to be transferred to the Jewish General Hospital. She passed on at the hospital two days later after she was diagnosed with lymphoma.
The cause of her death is not known but the Quebec coroner is investigating the matter.
According to Atlanta Black Star, Ndjomouo’s family said it took five hours of negotiation before the hospital agreed to get her transferred.
A spokesperson for Ndjomouo’s family disclosed it was too early to be sure of the circumstances surrounding her death. “But we want answers.”
Montreal lawyer Aric Jackson Kingne Wekouo said: “We want to know what happened, why she was not transferred when she asked to be transferred.”
The Jewish General Hospital made it known that any details could not be provided due to patient confidentiality. Also, the health authority responsible for Charles-Le Moyne, the CISSS de la Montérégie-Centre is investigating the situation.
Christine Ndjomouo, Mireille’s sister said: “She’s gone, but many questions still remain about what happened to her.
“I keep hearing her voice saying, ‘Come and save me. Come and save me, they’re going to kill me. I’m all puffed up. Get me out of here.’ That’s what I hear every day since it happened.”
Ndjomouo is survived by three children but youngest of her children is 14 years old. A GoFundMe page has mobilised $25,000 to help Ndjomouo’s family return her corpse to Cameroon.
Kingne Wekouo said: “Our main goal now is for Mireille to be returned and buried. Mireille was a refugee, fleeing persecution when she came to a country in the belief she would be safe — and she was again persecuted.”
