Premier Higgs 'strongly objects' to naming of nurses in Horizon Health lawsuit

A hospital emergency department. (CTV News/Steve Mansbridge)

New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs has issued a statement strongly objecting to legal tactics that personally name health-care professionals in lawsuits.

The provincial government released the statement late Saturday afternoon in regards to the lawsuit against the Horizon Health Network filed by the family of a patient who died in an emergency department waiting room in Fredericton.

Darrell Mesheau died in the early morning hours of July 12, 2022, at the Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital waiting room after waiting for almost seven hours.

Mesheau's family has filed the lawsuit against the health network and two nurses who were on shift that night.

In Saturday's statement, the premier called Mesheau's death a tragedy. He said the inquiry into his death highlighted the important changes needed to make the health-care system better but did not find any instances of negligence on the part of the nurses.

 "To suggest otherwise by naming them in the lawsuit is unacceptable, and I encourage the lawyers for the plaintiffs to reconsider this strategy," said Higgs.

The provincial government will cover all legal fees for nurses working for a health authority, Higgs said, and the province will pay in the "unlikely event" a judgement is made against them.

The statement of claim filed with the Court of King’s Bench of New Brunswick states Mesheau died of heart failure. The family’s lawsuit alleges if Mesheau had been monitored, or seen by a doctor earlier, he’d still be alive.

Higgs believes front-line health-care workers should not have to deal with the extra stress of being named in lawsuits.

"Even if costs are covered, it is still an attack on a nurse’s reputation, and is personally stressful," he said. The premier called for legislation to further protect health-care staff from being named in lawsuits.

"If they have done their job in good faith and to the best of their abilities, these hard-working women and men should be able to sleep at night with confidence that their government has their back," said Higgs.

Health Minister Bruce Fitch has been instructed by Higgs to engage union leadership in order get meaningful input on how the province can protect front-line health-care workers from legal riskderek h

For more New Brunswick news, visit our dedicated provincial page.

-- with files from Laura Brown