The New Brunswick Nurses Union is standing behind two nurses named in a recent lawsuit following a patient death.
Darrell Mesheau, 78, died in the emergency department of Fredericton’s Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital in July 2022.
The family of the late Mesheau recently filed a suit against the Horizon Health Network and two nurses who were working in the ER that night.
Paula Doucet, president of the union, said they are very disappointed to see the nurses named in the lawsuit.
“We’re all working very short-staffed throughout the province,” Doucet told our newsroom in an interview.
“Just knowing that your name is going to be out there, your reputation be tarnished for trying to do your absolute best in caring for New Brunswickers has a lot of nurses really second-guessing should they stay or should they go.”
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Doucet said a coroner’s inquest held earlier this year brought to light the severity of the ER staffing shortage that night and cleared the nurses of any wrongdoing.
A total of 52 patients visited the emergency room between 7 p.m. on July 11 and 5 a.m. on July 12. The triage nurse, one of those named in the lawsuit, was working alone.
The other nurse is a licensed practical nurse who had been floated from a different unit to help fill in a staff shortage.
Doucet said the health-care staff were doing their best in a situation that was beyond their control. She added that poor planning, not individual nurses, is responsible for the emergency room death.
“Ultimately, it is the employer’s responsibility to provide a safe work environment and provide you with the appropriate staffing levels and all the tools necessary to carry out your duties,” she said.
“It is demoralizing, frightening and stressful for these nurses, and all nurses in New Brunswick, to have their skills criticized and reputations tarnished for doing their best in these circumstances.”
The president of the nurses union said she agrees with the premier that there should be legislation preventing health-care workers from being named in lawsuits.
