New Brunswick's public advocate says system failure led to dementia patient's death

New Brunswick’s public advocate says the death of a woman with dementia was due to failures in the social welfare system.

FREDERICTON — The death of a New Brunswick woman with dementia could’ve been prevented had government officials listened to concerns about her level of care, the public advocate says.

Kelly Lamrock, the advocate, laid out a timeline in a report Wednesday that documented several warnings by front-line workers that the provincially run facility housing the woman was not equipped for her advanced needs.

It marks Lamrock’s second report in two weeks blaming a vulnerable person’s death on inaction caused by systemic issues within the Social Development Department. In both cases, he criticized the department and issued recommendations to prevent similar deaths.

“If a system cannot use common sense and compassion when somebody’s life is in danger right in front of people, the system is broken,” Lamrock said in a news conference following the report’s release.

The woman, whom Lamrock calls Alice in his report, repeatedly wandered away from her specialized care facility. Five months after the wandering began, the Social Development Department determined she needed a higher level of care, the report said.

Despite increasing concerns raised by her facility, no actions were taken by authorities to speed up her transition to a home equipped to care for her, or to provide interim support while she remained on a wait-list, Lamrock wrote.

About a year after the Social Development assessment, the report said, Alice wandered away from her care home for a 12th and final time. She was found outside and was unresponsive, later dying in hospital.

Bound by confidentiality rules, Lamrock was unable to get into specifics but said the death occurred in the last two years. He said the blame was not on individual workers or a specific care home.

“There were some, on the front lines, who worried and warned and pleaded for help,” Lamrock wrote in his report. “And there were others who could have seen it coming but just kept moving the file along the bureaucratic conveyor belt.”

One of Lamrock’s five recommendations is for the Social Development Department to create “clear, enforceable timelines for responding to reassessment requests.”

The department, he added, must give workers “permission to escalate concerns around inadequate resources, rather than just fill out forms.”

Responding to the report, Seniors Minister Lyne Chantal Boudreau said the government is reviewing the recommendations and will come up with changes to make sure there aren’t other preventable deaths like Alice’s.

Government has already taken steps to better protect older adults, she said, citing as an example a recent survey of all New Brunswick’s nursing homes to assess what security measures are in place.

“And we also noticed that some of them need maybe some help, some more resources, and we are working with them at this time to make sure that all seniors across New Brunswick are safe,” Boudreau told reporters. She committed to making the results of the survey public.

The minister noted the Liberal government announced a long-term seniors care plan earlier this year calling for an internal review of safety and security measures at nursing homes and an “action plan” to fill gaps.

Chandra MacBean, executive director of the Alzheimer Society of New Brunswick, said the province needs to move urgently to address systemic issues with specialized senior care.

“We have an aging population, we know that the number of people impacted today by dementia is going to double by 2035,” MacBean told reporters. “This is not an issue that’s going away. So now is the time to act.”

MacBean said improving life at care homes won’t be a “one-size-fits-all-approach.” She called on the government to provide more employee training and resources for care facilities.

Last week, the advocate reported on the overdose death of a 16-year-old in New Brunswick, saying the Social Development Department didn’t respond quickly and effectively when it received more than a dozen notices about his well-being.

Social Development Minister Cindy Miles accepted all the recommendations in Lamrock’s report on the teenager. As well, members of the legislature from all parties unanimously agreed to hold hearings on systemic failures within the province’s child welfare system.

By Eli Ridder

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 3, 2026.