Montreal Gazette

Class-action suit sought against CHSLD in Laval

Applicatio­n alleges care-home staff told to work despite COVID-19 symptoms

- PAUL CHERRY pcherry@postmedia.com

An applicatio­n for a class-action suit has been filed against a Laval long-term care residence that is among those hit hardest by the coronaviru­s in Quebec.

The applicatio­n was filed by Jean-pierre Daubois, the son of Anna José Maquet, a 94-year-old woman who died on April 3 at the CHSLD Ste-dorothée. It alleges the staff were told to continue working despite expressing concerns that they were symptomati­c. The centre was home to 192 residents when the virus began to spread in Quebec last month; as of Monday, 67 had died.

Daubois is personally seeking $1 million in the lawsuit, filed in Quebec Superior Court. If it is allowed to proceed as a class-action suit, it will seek $30,000 for each person who was infected by COVID -19 at the CHSLD, as well as $10,000 for their children who suffered from stress. It also seeks $100,000 for the spouses of residents who have died as a result of being infected by COVID-19 and $30,000 for their children.

The applicatio­n follows one filed last week seeking a class-action suit against the Résidence Herron, a privately owned residence in Dorval. The case filed against the CHSLD Ste-dorothée also lists the regional health board that runs it, the CISSS de Laval, as a defendant. The allegation­s have yet to be proven in court.

In the applicatio­n, lawyer Patrick Ménard includes a chronology in which, on March 22, an attendant and an auxiliary nurse informed the CHSLD that they believed they were experienci­ng symptoms of COVID-19. The employees felt they should be placed in isolation and asked to stop working, as had been called for by the Quebec government six days earlier.

Instead of being isolated, the two employees continued to work that week and circulated “room to room” in the CHSLD’S Unit E-C, which is where patients with Alzheimer’s disease reside. Four days later, a patient in Unit E-C was diagnosed with COVID-19. The lawsuit alleges the CHSLD failed to apply the government-ordered protocol and did not isolate employees who made contact with the first patient who tested positive, and did not supply protective equipment to staff.

On March 29, the two employees who had expressed concerns they were experienci­ng COVID -19 symptoms tested positive.

By April 6, the CHSLD Ste-dorothée reported 107 confirmed cases among its residents, including eight deaths, and 50 cases among its staff. That same day, an inspector from Quebec’s work safety board, CNESST, intervened on behalf of the unions representi­ng staff at the CHSLD. Six days later, the inspector filed a report alleging employees with COVID-19 symptoms continued to work and that personnel carried out “risky interventi­ons” without protective equipment.

On April 8, Dr. Horacio Arruda, Quebec’s director of public health, announced that an investigat­ion was ordered into how the virus spread so quickly at the residence.

Maquet had been at the CHSLD since July 1, 2014, after being transferre­d from St. Mary’s Hospital. According to the applicatio­n, the nurse assigned to Maquet was diagnosed on April 1.

The lawsuit states that Maquet’s family, including her grandchild­ren, have suffered psychologi­cal distress because of what happened at the CHSLD, and anguish because of negligence.

A spokespers­on for the CISSS de Laval told the Montreal Gazette they could not comment on the legal action for the time being.

 ?? ALLEN MCINNIS ?? As of Monday, 67 residents of the CHSLD Ste-dorothée in Laval have died of COVID-19. The centre was home to 192 residents before the disease started to spread in Quebec last month.
ALLEN MCINNIS As of Monday, 67 residents of the CHSLD Ste-dorothée in Laval have died of COVID-19. The centre was home to 192 residents before the disease started to spread in Quebec last month.

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