MONTREAL – The head of a western Montreal regional health authority will step down at the end of her mandate in July following a damning report from the Quebec coroner.

The health authority made the announcement about Lynne McVey in a news release.

McVey was one of the only people whose actions during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic were singled out for criticism by coroner Géhane Kamel in a report released Monday.

Kamel’s inquest looked at 53 deaths in long-term care during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, including 47 at the Herron, a private Montreal-area care home.

The coroner criticized the management team at the regional health authority, which took over the Herron, pointing out that the majority of deaths at the facility occurred after it assumed control.

Kamel says it was “disgraceful” of McVey to criticize a decision by the Herron care home to transfer residents to hospital during the early days of the pandemic.

The regional health authority says its management team is committed to implementing the recommendations in Kamel’s report.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 17, 2022.