A class action lawsuit has finally been certified by a Newfoundland Supreme Court justice. The lawsuit is brought on by faulty tests involving hundred of breast cancer patients.
Justice Carl Thompson announced the decision Monday at court in St. John’s, giving lawyers the power to bring a suit involving 100 patients together as a group, thus a class-action, rather than litigating the matter separately against the Eastern Health regional authority.
Lawyer Ches Crosbie, who filed the application last year seeking unspecified damages, said he saw Thompson's decision as a victory. He said that there is a possibility of an out-of-court settlement before the matter is brought to court again.
A class action lawsuit was filed October 31 in Putnam Circuit Court on behalf of all West Virginia residents against the former Putnam General Hospital -- now officially CAMC Teays Valley Hospital, for medical malpractice and professional negligence by failing to properly follow disinfection procedures relative to its endoscopic instruments.
The complaint, calling the conduct negligent, careless and reckless, was based on a November 1, 2004 letter from the hospital saying it had committed medical malpractice and/or professional negligence involving patients who underwent endoscopic procedures at the hospital between March 1, 2003, and September 30, 2004.