Quebec health-care establishments argue against allowing COVID-19 class action

A lawyer for Quebec’s regional health authorities says a proposed class-action lawsuit on behalf of residents of long-term care homes that had COVID-19 outbreaks should not go forward.

Jonathan Desjardins-Mallette told Quebec Superior Court today that the evidence in the case concerns major outbreaks that prompted crises in specific long-term care centres, but not all facilities were in the same situation.

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If the case is allowed to go ahead, it would cover all residents of long-term care homes where COVID-19 outbreaks occurred during the first two waves of the pandemic, as well as their family members.

It defines an outbreak as two or more linked cases acquired in the same environment within two weeks.

Desjardins-Mallette says that while the proposed suit highlights a Montreal-area facility where more than 100 residents died during a COVID-19 outbreak, other residences that would be included in the suit had only a handful of cases and no serious operational failures.

Patrick Martin-Ménard, the lawyer seeking to bring the case, argues that systemic problems led to preventable deaths and damaged the mental and physical health of residents who survived.

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