Lawsuit alleges health-care aide exploited dying man

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This article was published 12/08/2024 (760 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Portage la Prairie health care aide is accused in a lawsuit of exploiting a dying man by purportedly having a romantic relationship with him to receive extravagant gifts.

The aide and her employer, the Southern Regional Health Authority, are named in a lawsuit filed in the Portage Court of King’s Bench in July by the dead man’s sister-in-law, who is executor of his estate.

The man, diagnosed with brain cancer in 2014, died in December 2023. His wife died of cancer in late May 2023 and he soon began receiving home care services, while in a fragile state, the court filing claims.

The Free Press is not naming the defendant or the man out of privacy concerns.

The lawsuit alleges the man’s physical and cognitive health declined to the point he could no longer care for himself in May 2023, so he was approved for home care through Southern Health.

The court filing claims the aide received a Toyota truck worth $60,000, unspecified sums of cash and a ring made of gold, diamond and tanzanite from her patient from June to December 2023.

“The items… were received in circumstances of undue influence, where he was under extreme physical, emotional and psychological distress,” reads the court filing.

“The defendant took unfair advantage of his vulnerable physical, emotional and psychological state, and his dependence upon the defendant.”

The plaintiff, the lawsuit claims, repeatedly raised concerns with the health authority regarding the aide’s alleged unethical conduct beginning in June of last year.

The plaintiff asked that the aide to be removed from providing care on the grounds she purported to have started a romantic relationship with him, had conversations about him remarrying and asked about the price of his home.

The aide is also accused of convincing the man other home care workers were inadequate, resulting in him and the aide refusing to let others into the home to provide services.

The man was in the final stages of brain cancer and became increasingly dependent on the aide, the filing claims.

The aide is accused of unjustly enriching herself and depriving his estate of that money. The plaintiff is seeking the return of the money and gifts, plus damages to be determined by the court and a declaration of unjust enrichment.

The health authority is accused of breaching its duty of care to the man by providing negligent services. Southern Health, the filing claims, was vicariously liable for the aide’s conduct.

The aide and the authority have yet to file statements of defence in court.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca