Nurse intentionally gave man in Winnipeg hospital opioid dose that led to his death, lawsuit alleges

A Winnipeg man is suing a hospital, health-care workers and the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, alleging that after he complained about his father's care, hospital staff intentionally gave his father an injection of an opioid that led to his death.

A statement of claim filed with Manitoba Court of King's Bench on Sept. 27, 2024, names the defendants as Seven Oaks General Hospital, a doctor and several nurses, as well asrepresentatives of the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority.

On Dec. 4, 2018, the plaintiff's father, 95, who had been admitted to Seven Oaks Hospital several days earlier, was prescribed one milligram of hydromorphone by a doctor named in the lawsuit, even though he"was not suffering any pain and was not in need of any strong pain medication," the statement of claim says.

Early onDec. 7, a one-milligram dose of hydromorphonewas administered by a nurse, who is also named as a defendant, the lawsuit says.

The man immediately fell into a "deep sleep" following the injection and never woke up, the suit says.He diedon Dec. 9, 2018, "as a direct result of the fatal dosage, due to a severe respiratory depression," according to the statement of claim.

The plaintiff was the primary caretaker of his father and directly involved with his medical decisions, the suit says.The plaintiff alleges he had communicated with hospital staff that he was to be informed of and consent to all medical decisions relating to his father.

The plaintiff did not consent to his father's treatment withhydromorphoneand was not informed of the treatment, the statement of claim says.

His father's specialist doctors were also unaware of the treatment, the lawsuit claims.

The lawsuit claims the man was intentionally given the injection without medical reasonand without proper records of the injection.

The lawsuit also alleges the hospital did not hand over the father's medical records detailing the hydromorphone treatment when the plaintiff requested them.

Alleged threat

The plaintiff's father was admitted to Seven Oaks Hospital on Nov. 29, 2018, for a scheduled procedure that was completed successfully, the lawsuit says, and stayed in the hospital to be monitored for a few days afterwards.

The statement of claim says on Nov. 29, the plaintiff went into his father's room and found him "gasping for air" after his oxygen tube had dropped from his nose to the floor.

The plaintiff says he contacted the hospital's nurse supervisor about his father's quality of care. The nurse supervisortold the man his father's nurse would be disciplined for failing to properly attach the oxygen tube, the claim says.

The lawsuit claims the nurse supervisor did not discipline the nurse, and the same nurse continued to care for the man's father after the incident.

The plaintiff alleges the nurse "uttered a threat" toward the man and his father's family for attempting to have her disciplined, saying she "would get" them.

Change in status

The statement of claim saysthe man's father was not palliative, but his patient status was changed to "comfort care" at some point during his stay at the hospital.

The suit says patient status was not discussed with nor agreed to by him or his father. The lawsuit claims thefather's specialist doctors also did not agree to this status change.

The lawsuit says Seven Oaks Hospital, hospital staff named in the lawsuitand the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority owed the man, as the primary caregiver for his father,informed consent to all medical decisions, and breached duty of care to discuss potential risks of treatment with the father as a patient and the man as primary caregiver.

It says the defendants' actions were "malicious" and "calculated to cause harm to the plaintiff," and that the staff "intentionallyand maliciously"gave the patient the hydromorphone dose"as a way of 'getting back' atthe plaintiff."

A dollar amount for damages being sought is not given in the lawsuit.