STATEMENT: Poor planning, not individual nurses, is responsible for emergency room death

Amidst the news that the family of a patient who died in the emergency room at the Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital (DECRH) is filing a lawsuit against Horizon Health Network and two nurses, I wish to both extend our sincere condolences to the Mesheau family for their enormous loss and express NBNU’s support for the health care staff involved in the events of July 2022.

Darrell Mesheau’s passing was a tragedy no family should have to endure. We feel nothing but sorrow for their loss.

The coroner’s inquest on these events, held in April 2024, brought to light the severity of the ER staffing shortage on the night of July 11 as listed below:

• Between the hours of 7 p.m. on July 11 and 5 a.m. on July 12, 52 patients visited the DECRH emergency room. The triage nurse, one of the nurses against whom a lawsuit is being filed, was working alone. There were 14 patients in the ER that night who were triaged at a level requiring more urgency than Mr. Mesheau.
• The ER doctor was also working alone.
• The other nurse against whom a lawsuit is being filed is an LPN who had been floated from a different unit to help fill in a staff shortage.

These facts paint a picture that the DECRH ER staff are far too familiar with: one in which they are vastly outnumbered, and always working with less staff than is necessary for safe patient care.

This picture is the result of poor planning – particularly when it comes to nurse staffing. NBNU has been warning our regional health authorities and the provincial government about the worst nursing shortage in decades for a very long time, so that this situation would not occur.

Both the coroner’s inquest and the RCMP investigation found that the nurses named in the lawsuit were not responsible for any wrongdoing.

While we respect the right of the Mesheau family to litigation, we object to the decision to name the nurses. These health care professionals were doing their best, in a situation that was beyond their control.

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.

NBNU will stand behind the two nurses named in the lawsuit and continue to fight for better conditions for health care professionals and their patients.

It’s time for the right people to take responsibility for our broken health care system. Our nurses and their patients deserve it!

Paula Doucet
President, New Brunswick Nurses Union

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