New Brunswick’s premier says his government will introduce legislation to protect health-care workers from being named in lawsuits.
Blaine Higgs issued a rare weekend statement regarding a lawsuit launched by the family of the late Darrell Mesheau.
The 78-year-old died in the emergency department of Fredericton’s Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital in July 2022.
Among those named in the lawsuit against the Horizon Health Network are two nurses who were working in the ER that night.
“Our government strongly objects to the legal tactic of naming nurses personally in the lawsuit being launched against Horizon Health Network,” Higgs said in the statement.
The premier noted that an inquest into Mesheau’s death “did not find any instances of negligence on the part of these nurses.”
“To suggest otherwise by naming them in the lawsuit is unacceptable, and I encourage the lawyers for the plaintiffs to reconsider this strategy,” he said.
Higgs went on to say that the government covers 100 per cent of legal fees for nurses operating as employees of a regional health authority and would pay any judgments made against them.
“I believe that front-line health-care providers – who serve patients in good faith and to the best of their abilities – should not have extra stress heaped upon them by being named in lawsuits. Even if costs are covered, it is still an attack on a nurse’s reputation, and is personally stressful,” he said.
The premier said he has asked the health minister to begn engaging union leadership to get meaningful input on how best to protect front-line health-care workers from legal risk.
