Hospital and nurses deny negligence in N.B. emergency room death of 78-year-old man

Negligence denied

Photo: The Canadian Press

New Brunswick's provincial flag flies on a flag pole in Ottawa, Monday, July 6, 2020.  

A New Brunswick health network and two nurses named in a lawsuit by the family of a 78-year-old man who died waiting for care in a Fredericton emergency room deny all allegations against them and are asking for the claim to be dismissed.

Darrell Mesheau's family is suing Horizon Health Network, licensed practical nurse April Knowles and registered nurse Danielle Othen, alleging Mesheau died because of “reckless and outrageous acts and omissions.”

The retired diplomat arrived in an ambulance at the Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital on July 11, 2022, and about seven hours later a nurse found him in the waiting room, unresponsive and slumped in his wheelchair.

The family's statement of claim filed in New Brunswick's Court of King's Bench in July alleges Mesheau was triaged at a level that required his vital signs to be checked every 30 minutes, but it says they were only checked twice in the seven hours he was in the emergency room.

It also claims Othen did not ask Mesheau about his medical history.

Ryan Burgoyne, a lawyer for the health authority and the nurses, says in a statement of defence filed Feb. 3 that the defendants used "reasonable skills and due care in treating and caring" for Mesheau, and showed the "standard of care expected of them."