Court of appeal certifies class action lawsuit against health authority, former nurse

N.B. mother's class action lawsuit certified New Brunswick's top court certified a class action lawsuit against Horizon Health and a former nurse for the lead plaintiff.

A New Brunswick mother who is the lead plaintiff in a court case has received an early Christmas gift after the province’s top court certified her class-action lawsuit.

The woman is suing both Horizon Health and one of its former nurses.

Late last week, New Brunswick’s Court of Appeal certified a class-action lawsuit involving a group of women who allege they were given a drug to induce labour while at the Moncton Hospital.

The decision overturns a ruling from the Court of King’s Bench in November 2023.

Jayde Scott is the representative plaintiff in the class-action lawsuit against Horizon and Nicole Ruest, the former nurse.

Scott alleges her emergency C-section while delivering twins in 2019 was the result of oxytocin being administered to her without consent. Oxytocin is given to women to induce labour by causing the uterus to contract.

John McKiggan, co-counsel for the plaintiffs, said the decision is great news to hear just before Christmas.

“Jayde and the other mothers that are part of this class have been waiting for years now to find out what the heck actually happened here,” he said.

McKiggan wouldn’t say exactly how many plaintiffs there are.

“We have been contacted by hundreds of mothers who believe that they were injured as a result of the hospital and Nicole Ruest’s actions,” he said.

Crown prosecutors ruled out charges against Ruest in 2020 and the allegations in the lawsuit against her and the health authority haven’t been tested in court.

“This is an incredibly unique situation,” said McKiggan. “So far, as I’m aware, it’s the first of its kind in Canada where a nurse has alleged to have been surreptitiously dosing patients with oxytocin and causing emergency c-sections.”

In an email to CTV News, Ruest’s lawyer Andrew Faith said his firm remains committed to vigorously defending her as the matter proceeds.

“Nicole continues to reject the allegations advanced in the class action which remain unproven. We are considering all options in light of the court of appeal’s decision to overturn the chief justice’s conclusion that it would be inappropriate for this matter to proceed as a class action,” said Faith.

A spokesperson for Horizon Health said the health authority is declining comment at this time as this remains an active legal matter.

Ruest was fired from her nursing job in 2019 after she was accused of inappropriately administering oxytocin.

In 2020, the RCMP closed its investigation into the allegations the labour-inducing drug had been inappropriately administered with no criminal charges laid.

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