Lawsuit certified: N.B. psychiatric hospital patients get go-ahead to sue province, health authority

SAINT JOHN, N.B. -

A proposed class action lawsuit against the province of New Brunswick and the Vitalite Health Network over alleged ‘abuse, mistreatment and neglect’ at the Restigouche Hospital Centre in Campbellton has gotten the green light to proceed to the courts.

In a decision that was released on Friday, New Brunswick Chief Justice Tracey Deware officially certified the class action lawsuit, giving it the go-ahead.

“It’s quite emotional because it’s been a long time coming,” says Darrell Tidd, one of the plaintiffs in the case.

“The Chief Justice did a good job as far as I’m concerned in reviewing the information that was provided. It’s a detailed report, I think she hit on all the points that were raised.”

The plaintiffs - Tidd and Reid Smith - are both fathers of sons who have spent years at the psychiatric facility, and the action has been brought forward on behalf of patients from 1954 to the present day.

“Darrell and I both agreed that not only are we speaking on behalf of our sons,” says Reid, “but we’re speaking for anybody else that was a patient at the hospital that can’t be heard or is afraid to be outspoken, we will speak on their behalf.”

The legal action was launched after a damning report from New Brunswick’s ombud back in 2019, which described what he called “disturbing” examples of patient mistreatment there.

Charles Murray said that the centre was chronically understaffed and failing to provide adequate care.

“What we observed was that the incident reporting inside the institution isn’t accurate and is compromised in serious ways such that, I’m not sure Vitalite itself is getting an accurate picture of what’s happening there,” Murray said at the time.

Two days after that report was released, a patient at the Restigouche Hospital Centre died unexpectedly. Foul play was ruled out in the death of the 38-year-old man.

In 2019, the law firm representing the plaintiffs said that they’re seeking $500-million in total damages on behalf of the residents.

The next steps for the case include a case management call scheduled for the afternoon of Nov. 3, which will schedule a further hearing on the issues of cost and the litigation plan by the plaintiffs.