Victims of a woman who passed herself off as a nurse at B.C. Women’s Hospital and a health-care facility in View Royal told a B.C. Supreme Court judge on Monday their experiences have left them distrusting the medical system, and experiencing anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Brigitte Cleroux pleaded guilty to multiple charges of assault, fraud, impersonating a nurse and forgery in connection with cases at the hospital, a dentist’s office and the View Royal clinic.

The Crown is asking for eight years, which, added to the seven-year sentence she is serving in Ontario for similar crimes, would total 15 years.

The cases span three indictments before the court in a case Crown prosecutor Alexander Burton called “highly unusual.”

Burton told Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes that Cleroux’s crimes have affected more than 900 people.

“The accused is not nor has she ever been a licensed or accredited nurse in … any jurisdiction,” Burton said.

He said Cleroux has multiple past convictions and served time for crimes in Alberta, Ontario and Quebec — and has not learned from them.

She claimed to have been licensed in Colorado, Florida, B.C. and Ontario at various points.

At one point, Cleroux created an email address for a supposed previous employer for prospective employers to contact, Burton said, adding: “She gave herself glowing references.”

Burton said it’s the fourth, fifth and sixth time Cleroux has presented herself fraudulently as a nurse.

“She cannot be trusted to be in the community without committing fraud,” he said. “She has done all of this for greed.”

Holmes has the final decision on how long Cleroux will spend behind bars.

The court heard Cleroux had impersonated a specific nurse and used her credentials to get work at B.C. Women’s Hospital from June 2020 to June 2021. She then also used that information to sign documents for ethics commitments, Blue Cross and pension coverage.

Payments were going into her own bank account, as she had crossed out her name and written in the other person’s name on personal cheques to set up direct deposit.

The assault allegations came as a result of using needles to inject patients without consent.

In the case of View Royal Surgery, the allegation was fraud exceeding $5,000 for using the real nurse’s identification to get work. Her work involved narcotics medication, managing pain and discharge issues.

The court heard Cleroux was a team leader in a post-anaesthetic-care unit at B.C. Women’s Hospital dealing with such things as blood transfusions and heart monitoring.

However, complaints soon began to start trickling in, some about a lack of professionalism, others about poor nursing skills or conduct.

It was in November 2020 that Cleroux was warned about her conduct after she told someone off for complaining about being in pain.

“The patient was a nurse herself,” Burton said.

In other situations, Cleroux did not know the maximum dose allowable and was in breach of ethical practices for a registered nurse.

Then, in December 2020, there were allegations of an injection where blood had sprayed all over, that no protective gear was worn and poor narcotics handling was witnessed. One case involved Cleroux using excessive force to put on a blood pressure cuff.

By June of 2021, Cleroux was given letters about the hospital’s concerns about her. When meetings were called, she emailed that she was resigning.

Burton said Cleroux’s prospects for rehabilitation are “extremely low to nil.”

The court received 25 victim impact statements, with two women reading them in court, neither looking at Cleroux as they came forward. They cannot be identified by court order.

The first said that, as a result of her interactions with Cleroux, she is on anxiety medication, is always “on high alert” and is angry and on edge.

“My life will never be the same since this criminal touched me,” the woman said.

The second, choking back tears, said she never consented to having an unqualified person administer gynaecological procedures, as Cleroux sat in the prisoner’s dock shaking her head.

Burton read a statement from a third victim, a teacher to whom Cleroux had administered fentanyl three times.

The woman said she expected professional care and instead experienced assault.

“The trauma I endured that day has irrevocably altered my life,” she said. “The trust I once had in the medical system has been irrevocably shattered.”

She said she fears medical-system interactions, checks professionals’ credentials, suffers debilitating anxiety and will carry scars of her encounters with Cleroux the rest of her life.

Cleroux has been in custody since her arrest by Ottawa police in August 2021.

There are also a number of civil lawsuits pending against Cleroux.

She is represented by Vancouver lawyer Guillaume Garih, who is due to present his sentencing submissions today.

Cleroux has the option of addressing the court before sentence is passed.