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A $40 million class action lawsuit has been filed over the handling of a COVID-19 outbreak at the Orchard Villa long-term care home which led to the deaths of at least 31 residents.
Plaintiff Sylvia Lyon is serving as the litigation administrator on behalf of the estate of Ursula Drehlich, a resident of Orchard Villa who died on April 23. Sylvia is Ursula’s daughter.
Orchard Villa is a long-term care home and retirement home located in Pickering, Ontario. According to the Orchard Villa class action lawsuit, the facility has the capacity for up to 308 residents.
According to the Orchard Villa class action lawsuit, Ursula was a “particular vulnerable individual” as a result of radiation treatment for a brain tumor, which caused complications that affected her sense of balance and eventually confined her to a wheelchair. She became a resident of Orchard Villa in 2013.
The defendants named in the Orchard Villa class action lawsuit include CVH (No. 6) LP, Southbridge Health Care Gp Inc., Southbridge Care Homes, Southbridge Care Homes Inc. c.o.b. Orchard Villa. They are partnerships and corporate entities that carry on the business of Orchard Villa long-term care and retirement home.
In 2015, CVH and the Southbridge defendants reportedly purchased Orchard Villa, and Sylvia says she noticed “distinct changes in the level of care” that was provided to Ursula. Sylvia says she noticed that staffing changed at a faster rate and that there were inaccuracies in Ursula’s personal care plan.
According to the Orchard Villa class action lawsuit, the Ministry of Long-Term Care inspected Orchard Villa on 20 separate days in 2017 and found the facility suffered staffing shortages, inadequate wound care, inadequate measures to address reports of abuse and neglect, and failure to implement a falls prevention program until family members expressed concern. The facility was again inspected in 2019 and multiple deficiencies were again reported.
The first presumptive case of COVID-19 in Canada was reportedly admitted to Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto on Jan. 23. In response, the Government of Ontario reportedly released guidance on preventing COVID-19 in long-term care homes, noting that residents of these facilities were particularly vulnerable to the illness because residents tend to be older, frailer and have chronic health conditions that weaken their immune systems.
The government noted that institutional environments like long-term care homes may be at risk of a COVID-19 outbreak and recommended the facilities take precautionary steps to prevent the spread of the disease. Orchard Villa did not implement many of these precautions, the class action lawsuit alleges.
COVID-19 was officially declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11.
Ursula was reportedly able to move freely throughout Orchard Villa from March 11 through April 11 before she was confined to her room, where the class action lawsuit alleges “she was attended by staff who had improper or inadequate personal protective equipment, which had been contaminated by repeated usage.”
Ursula reportedly tested positive for COVID-19 on April 23 and died two days later due to complications from the virus.
“Due to staff shortages, residents received inadequate care in respect of basic necessities, such as bathing and maintaining catheters,” the Orchard Villa class action lawsuit says. “As a result, residents suffered from urinary tract infections, dehydration, and other related physical ailments, resulting in hospitalizations and/or deaths.”
In the meantime, Orchard Villa contacted residents’ family members to reassure them that the situation was under control, and failed to inform them that COVID-19 had caused deaths at the facility.
On April 20, news reports indicated that 31 Orchard Villa residents had died from COVID-19 complications. In addition, 115 residents and 30 staff members had reportedly tested positive for COVID-19.
Lakeridge Health subsequently conducted a review of Orchard Villa’s infection prevention and control and implemented new protocols. It also supplemented the Orchard Villa staff with registered nurses, registered practical nurses, personal support workers and dietary professionals. A few days later, a medical unit from the Canadian Armed Forces arrived at the facility, and the ratio of health professionals and support staffing finally met the standard ratios for long-term care at Orchard Villa and took the proper measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Lyon filed the Orchard Villa on behalf of a Class that includes:
Anyone who contracted COVID-19 at Orchard Villa;
Anyone who contracted COVID-19 from a resident at Orchard Villa or another cross-infected person;
All Orchard Villa residents who paid for their residency during the COVID-19 pandemic even as staff shortages precluded them from receiving the care they paid for; and
All living children, grandchildren, siblings, and spouses of anyone who contracted COVID-19 at Orchard Villa, and cross-infected persons.
The Orchard Villa class action lawsuit seeks $30 million in compensatory damages, $10 million in punitive damages, costs of insured health services provided by the Ontario Health Insurance Plan, pre- and post-judgment interest, costs and other relief the court deems just.
Orchard Villa is already facing other class action lawsuits over its allegedly inadequate response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Do you have any family or friends that are residents at Orchard Villa, or any other long-term care or retirement home? Tell us your story in the comment section below!
Sylvia is represented by Gary R. Will and Gordon A. Marsden of Will Davidson LLP.
The Orchard Villa Class Action Lawsuit is Sylvia Lyon v. CVH (No. 6) LP, et al., Case No. CV-20-00001409-00CP, in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Canada.
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One thought on Orchard Villa Facing Class Action Lawsuit After Residents Die of COVID-19
We (my wife Judy and I) watched the unfolding of events at Orchard Villa during these last few months. Initially we commented that perhaps we received a blessing in disguise because my wife’s mother Ellenor Hamel passed away on January 15th of 2019. We could only speculate on how well she would have handled the situation not to mention how we might have had to cope with it.
That said, in hindsight, the situation was not a function of the COVID outbreak, the issues at Orchard Villa are systemic have been worsening over the last few years; rapidly.
Luckily my Mother in Law was very aware of the situation, she was fully cognizant but was compromised due to a stroke in 2009 with left side paralysis and confined to a wheel chair, requiring her to be in the situation of being in a LTC facility.
On many occasions she herself would make phone calls to the MoHLTC to lodge a complaint about the lack of and withholding of services – because she was of sound mind and very aware of the situation she felt that she needed to speak up not only for herself but for many others there who were not able to communicate on their own behalf.
I too took up her cause many times with the ever-changing administrators that went through that place, I also connected with the chairman of the board of Southbridge to question the practices that were in place – any communication I had attempted to give me assurances that things were changing – but at no time did I believe or every witness changes that would have made a difference. I also lodged (on 2 separate occasions) complaints with the MoHLTC that were investigated but the investigation ended up being an exercise in futility as there appeared to be no clout in the Ministry Investigation process that would result in any substantive changes.
In the end my mother in law passed away and it is our opinion that it was a result of with-holding care and lack for proper care – like proper nourishment and hydration. We had her transferred to Ajax Pickering hospital a couple of times during the last couple of weeks of her life and in both cases, she was examined and deemed to be dehydrated and under nourished.
She was put on an IV while in the hospital, was not admitted at that time and sent back to Orchard Villa where each time her condition relapsed into her previous condition and finally succumbed to the consistent lack of care and passed away on Jan 15, 2019.
During the earlier years when she first went into Orchard Villa, we would get calls for any and all of the slightest situations (skin tears, sun burns, minor ailments etc.) during the last few months of her life, while she struggled and deteriated significantly we did not receive one call to advise us of her situation. We got a call the morning the sent her to Ajax Pickering hospital (for the final time) and because we live in Ottawa, could not make it in time. She passed while we were on route.
While non of this was a result of COVID, the situation that she / we experienced and attempted to do something about is the reason for the level of atrocity at Orchard Villa during the last few months.