Quebec actress dies while waiting for surgery delayed by COVID

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Reached Saturday morning at home, Nathalie Duchesne sounded like she was still having a hard time coming to grips with the fact 28-year-old actress Rosine Chouinard-Chauveau had died.

There are still few details of her death available other than Chouinard-Chauveau died Thursday from an unspecified health problem and she was waiting to have surgery for the issue. The surgery had been delayed, like so many others, because resources in the health sector have been diverted to deal with COVID-19 patients.

Her death was announced in a statement by l’Agence artistique Duchesne, the talent agency founded and run by Duchesne.

“I feel deep sadness and it’s really so unfair,” Duchesne said. “It’s a tragedy.”

Chouinard-Chauveau’s parents are Quebec actors Normand Chouinard and Violette Chauveau, and the statement said the family has been touched by the outpouring of reaction since her death. The family is not making any further comment for the moment. Chouinard-Chauveau was also mother of a young son, Maël.

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Dr. Liane Feldman, surgeon-in-chief at the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), said Chouinard-Chauveau’s death underlines the terrible cost of the COVID-19 crisis.

“I think that’s a devastating thing to read, I was upset to read that,” Feldman said. “I don’t know the details of it, but whatever it is, it’s devastating for the family to think that the cause (of death) was the delay of having the surgery. We have over 5,000 patients on our (surgery) wait list just at the Royal Vic and the General right now. That’s increased very significantly from last year and I’m sure it’s the same at every hospital in the province.

“We are told 140,000 surgeries have been delayed or postponed and each of those is a human being. It’s a person who needs surgery and has a story and is suffering because they can’t get their surgery done … 140,000 people, that’s a whole lot of people in a province of eight-and-a-half million people. It’s very significant.”

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Duchesne worked with Chouinard-Chaveau from a young age, with the actress starting out her career dubbing voices in studio. Later, she appeared in numerous plays, often directed by her father, including La leçon, and Un homme, deux patrons. She starred in the critically acclaimed film Catimini, which was released in 2012 and received five Jutra award nominations. She appeared in the TV series 30 vies and Le berceau des anges.

“At a young age, it was clear that she was an artist who was destined to do this craft and that’s why I decided to represent her very early on,” Duchesne said. “Her performance in Catimini really turned a lot of heads. It was a great role for her. She was a woman with a lot of depth and a unique personality. And she’s left us at such a young age.”

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A number of prominent politicians reacted to her death.

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Marie Montpetit, a Liberal MNA and the party’s health critic, wrote on Twitter: “This is sad and disturbing news. The death of Rosine Chouinard-Chauveau reminds us that the impact of the pandemic goes far beyond official statistics.”

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Quebec Liberal Party Leader Dominique Anglade also weighed in: “Truly, my heart, as a parent, is tight reading this dramatic news.”

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Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante tweeted: “I am shook up by the death of the young Montrealer Rosine Chouinard-Chauveau … it is so sad to leave this Earth when your whole life is ahead of you.”

Jason Harley, an assistant professor in the department of surgery at McGill University, said this highlights the challenges facing the health-care sector in the pandemic.

“I think it’s very sad,” Harley said. “I think that’s everyone’s reaction. But it also reminds us why we’re following the best health-care recommendations and public-health practices. When people take risks and don’t follow the rules, expose themselves and expose others to COVID, that increases the number of people overall who have COVID and increases the numbers of people who might need hospitalization. And by increasing the number of hospitalized patients, that takes away beds, it takes away operating rooms, it takes away human resources that are needed for surgeries.”

Details of the funeral arrangements for Chouinard-Chauveau will be made public at a later date.

bkelly@postmedia.com

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