TORONTO — As the deadly toll of COVID-19 on Canada’s nursing homes gives rise to a growing number of proposed class-action lawsuits, some legal experts say the cases will turn on what’s considered reasonable care during a pandemic.
The ongoing global health crisis that has disproportionately affected the elderly poses a unique and unprecedented backdrop for such civil actions, which have emerged in Ontario and Quebec in recent weeks, experts say.
While nursing homes can’t be blamed for the pandemic, they can be held accountable for unnecessary and preventable deaths, said Michael Smitiuch, a Toronto-based lawyer who previously led a successful negligence lawsuit against a Brampton, Ont.