The Superior Court of Quebec is hearing this week the request for authorization of a class action targeting all public CHSLDs in the province that experienced an outbreak of COVID-19 during the first two waves of the pandemic. It is alleged that the “faulty and negligent” conduct of health establishments and authorities is “the direct and probable cause of the outbreaks” which “resulted in at least 5,347 deaths” in CHSLDs between March 13, 2020 and March 20. 2021.
Jean-Pierre Daubois, who wishes to bring this class action, lost his 94-year-old mother in April 2020. She resided at the CHSLD Sainte-Dorothée in Laval, where 101 residents died during the first wave, one of the worst outbreaks in Quebec. Three and a half years later, the son of the deceased still loudly denounces the management of the crisis by health establishments, the Ministry of Health and Social Services and the national director of public health of Quebec.
“There is a level of incompetence, unpreparedness and even a level of very, very serious negligence that was committed towards all the residents of the CHSLD Sainte-Dorothée, but towards all the residents of CHSLDs in Quebec », Jean-Pierre Daubois, represented by the Ménard Martin law firm, told the media.
In Superior Court Monday, Me Patrick Martin-Ménard notably argued that the authorities had been slow to implement the Quebec plan to fight a pandemic, adopted in 2006. According to him, it should have been activated in January 2020 rather than in March. “This gave rise to improvisation, a lot of decisions made on the fly and really negligent management of the entire pandemic,” he summarized to the media.
According to the lawyer, the case of Jean-Pierre Daubois’ mother, Anna José Maquet, is representative of what happened in CHSLDs across the province. “Through what we learned from this case, we noted that there had been several shortcomings in terms of preparation, management, prevention and control of infections, in terms of care which was given to residents, in terms of the decisions that were made regarding the end of life of residents, in a context where they were not allowed to go to the hospital. » A ministerial directive limited transfers from CHSLDs to hospitals.
If authorized by the judge, this class action could concern at least 10,000 CHSLD residents, according to the law firm, “as well as an unknown number of people who could be part of the group as caregivers natural persons, children, grandchildren, heirs or beneficiaries.
Me Ménard did not comment on the total potential sum of the claim, the latter being “complex”. In the procedure, it is indicated that an amount of $100,000 is requested for each surviving spouse of deceased CHSLD residents, “in their personal capacity, in compensation for the pain, stress and inconvenience suffered, as well as in compensation for the grief caused by the loss of a loved one […] due to the wrongful conduct of the defendants.”
A basic sum of $40,000 is also claimed for each resident living in a CHSLD during the period covered, in compensation, among other things, for the psychological distress experienced and the deterioration of their physical, psychological and cognitive health.
The defendants in this case, namely the CHSLD Sainte-Dorothée, the CIUSSS and CISSS, the Ministry of Health and Social Services and the national director of public health, will present their counterarguments on Thursday and Friday.