Manitoba settles lawsuit with family of woman who died after halted medical flight during pandemic
The Manitoba government says it has settled a lawsuit with the family of a woman who died during the COVID-19 pandemic while in the process of being transferred out of province due to a shortage of hospital beds.
Matt Wiebe, minister of justice and the province's attorney general, confirmed a settlement was recently reached with the family of Krystal Mousseau more than two years after Mousseau's mother first sued the provincial government and health agencies.
Elaine Mousseau alleged that cuts to health care and improper medical decisions contributed to her daughter's death in May 2021.
Mousseau was in intensive care with severe COVID-19 pneumonia and died after being taken by ambulance to a waiting airplane that was to take her to Ottawa.
Details of the settlement were not made available.
Wiebe says he is pleased the province has been able to reach an agreement with the Mousseau family.
"While it can't bring back their loved one or repair the harms done to their family, we hope this agreement brings them clarity and a sense of closure," Wiebe said in a statement on Friday.
"Our government remains committed to rebuilding health care in northern Manitoba and across our province."
Mousseau died on May 25, 2021, after an aborted attempt to fly her from an intensive care unit in Brandon, Man., to a hospital in Ottawa.
The province, under the previous Progressive Conservative government, sent dozens of intensive-care patients to other provinces that spring due to a shortage of beds as COVID-19 cases rose and hospitals struggled to deal with an influx of people needing care.
Elaine Mousseau alleged that the government and Shared Health, the provincial body that co-ordinates many health services, failed to provide proper care.
Shared Health said on Friday that any settlement is confidential in nature and it would not be commenting on the matter.
Elaine Mousseau's lawyer was not immediately made available to comment on the settlement.
A letter from the regional authority in western Manitoba to the family shortly after Krystal Mousseau's death, which was released publicly, said the transport team did not have a piece of equipment that would let them constantly monitor Mousseau's blood pressure, so a blood-pressure cuff was used instead. Mousseau was also being given at least one medication at the wrong rate, the letter stated.
The lawsuit alleged the Tory government ignored warnings in 2019 when it privatized some air ambulance services.
The government also created a scenario where hospitals couldn't deal with an influx of patients when it reduced the number of critical care beds in 2019, the lawsuit claimed.
The statement of claim also alleged staff at the hospital allowed Mousseau to leave while she was in unstable condition and at severe risk.
Mousseau showed high blood pressure and a sudden elevated heart rate shortly before she was put into the ambulance on the way to the airport, the statement of claim alleged.
She went into cardiac arrest while in the ambulance, was sent back to hospital, and suffered another cardiac arrest and multiple organ failure before being pronounced dead the next day, the document said.
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