By Canadian Press

Class-action lawsuit application for COVID-19 response in care homes begins in Quebec

Sep 18, 2023 | 10:48 AM

MONTREAL — A Quebec Superior Court judge is being asked to authorize a class-action lawsuit on behalf of all residents of public long-term care homes that experienced COVID-19 outbreaks during the pandemic’s first two waves.

Montreal lawyer Patrick Martin-Ménard said today in court that Quebec’s early response to COVID-19 in long-term care homes was marked by improvisation and that a pre-existing pandemic plan was ignored until it was too late.

The lawsuit would also include family members of residents who died between March 2020 and March 2021.

Martin-Ménard says that outbreaks at care homes would have been prevented had the existing plan been put into action.

He says long-term care centres were ill-prepared to receive patients from hospitals, and couldn’t properly care for residents after the government banned visits from family caregivers.

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Lawyers for the Quebec government are scheduled to argue against the lawsuit later this week. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2023.

The Canadian Press