An Aboriginal Woman Was Taunted on Her Death Bed in a Canadian Hospital

The story of Joyce Echaquan’s death and her brave last act

Aymes Sarah
3 min readSep 30, 2020
Photograph courtesy of CBC.ca, submitted by Joyce’s family from Facebook

Joyce Echaquan, a 37-year-old loving mother to seven children, passed away Monday, September 28, 2020. Although Joyce was young, she had health problems for most of her life. At the time of her death, she was staying in a hospital in Joliette, 58 kilometers away from Montreal.

When Joyce was admitted to the hospital for stomach pain last week, it was noted that she had a pacemaker and a heart problem. Before her death on Monday, she felt she was given too much morphine and was very worried about the consequences, her cousin Mirella Dubé said in an interview via Facebook.

When she voiced these concerns to the attending nurses, they ignored her cries for help and openly taunted her while she laid strapped to a hospital bed.

A Brave Last Act

While she was dying, Joyce did something that most people wouldn’t think to do or have the strength to do: She grabbed her phone, opened Facebook, and went live for everyone to see how she was being treated.

In the 7-minute-long video, Joyce is panting and struggling to breathe as the nurses who were supposed to be caring for her openly taunted her with…

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Aymes Sarah

Aymes is a freelance writer, social media manager, and published author. She co-owns a site ( www.personalsafetyschool.com ) with safety guide and tips!