BC Women’s Hospital Faces Class Action Lawsuit Over ‘Imposter’ Nurse

Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.

BC Women’s Hospital Class Action Lawsuit Overview

• Who: A patient at BC Women’s Hospital has filed a class action lawsuit against the Provincial Health Services Authority after it was revealed that a nurse was working there without a license.
• Why: The plaintiff says patients suffered distress and shock as they were treated by a nurse who had no formal training or certifications.
• Where: The lawsuit was lodged in the British Columbia Supreme Court.

A BC Women’s Hospital allowed an unregistered nurse to treat patients, according to a class action lawsuit lodged against the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA).

Plaintiff Miranda Massie filed the class action lawsuit against the authority on Dec. 16 in BC Supreme Court, alleging the hospital should have known nurse Brigitte Cleroux was not qualified to work as a nurse when it employed her, Global News reports. 

The lawsuit alleges that Cleroux was hired at BC Women’s Hospital, despite having an extensive history of using forged credentials to work illegally as a nurse.

“Much of this information is a matter of public record,” Massie alleges. “This information was readily available to PHSA had it exercised a reasonable level of diligence.”

She alleges that anyone who was a patient at B.C. Women’s Hospital from June 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021 suffered battery when Cleroux treated them or administered treatments without a license to do so. 

“As a result of learning that Cleroux was not a registered nurse, many Class Members sustained mental distress and nervous shock all of which was foreseeable to the PHSA,” she says.

Cleroux is also facing numerous criminal charges and has been known to law enforcement for some time.

BC Women’s Hospital Hired Known Fraudster, Claims Class Action

Cleroux, 49, has previously been arrested and charged with fraud over $5,000 and personation with the intent to gain an advantage. Vancouver police said she used the name of a real nurse to gain employment at the hospital, CBC reports. 

One woman who was treated at the hospital told CBC she recalled being in “so much pain” while getting a gynecological procedure with Cleroux doing pain relief. 

Cleroux has reportedly not completed nursing school or held a valid nursing license anywhere in Canada.

In Ontario, she faces charges of criminal negligence causing bodily harm, assault with a weapon, obtaining by false pretenses, uttering forged documents, and personation to gain advantage after she allegedly presented herself as a nurse at a medical and dental clinic in Ottawa where she administered medications and injections to patients.

Massie also alleges that PHSA ignored complaints about her relating to her competency and ethics.

Meanwhile, just over a year after a class action lawsuit was filed in Nova Scotia alleging two researchers conducted a secret study on Indigenous people, holding them for MRI scans on false pretexts, lawyers are back in court after settlement negotiations. 

What do you think about the hospital’s responsibility in this case? Let us know in the comments! 

Read About More Class Action Lawsuits & Class Action Settlements:

• Canadian National Railway Workers Threaten Class Action Over Vaccine Mandate
• Horizon Health Fights Class Action Alleging Oxytocin Given During Birth Without Consent
• Residential School Day Scholar Survivors Eligible for $10K Each in Settlement
• Black, Indigenous Women Subjected to Forced Sterilization in Quebec Asked To Come Forward as Class Action Looms