Hospital and nurses deny negligence in N.B. emergency room death of 78-year-old man – New Brunswick [Video]

A New Brunswick health network and two nurses named in a lawsuit by the family of a 78-year-old man who died waiting for care in a Fredericton emergency room deny all allegations against them and are asking for the claim to be dismissed.

Darrell Mesheau’s family is suing Horizon Health Network, licensed practical nurse April Knowles and registered nurse Danielle Othen, alleging Mesheau died because of “reckless and outrageous acts and omissions.”

The retired diplomat arrived in an ambulance at the Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital on July 11, 2022, and about seven hours later a nurse found him in the waiting room, unresponsive and slumped in his wheelchair. A coroner’s inquest in April found that Mesheau died of heart failure.

Mesheau’s death increased scrutiny of the state of the province’s health system and prompted widespread public outcry. Blaine Higgs, who was Progressive Conservative premier at the time, called the …