Ontario nurses sue province over SARS

March 26, 2004 -- Today the Toronto Star published a short article by Karen Palmer reporting the 30 Ontario nurses infected with SARS and some of their family members have filed suit against the province for almost $189 million, claiming that the government failed to protect them adequately.

The lawsuit reportedly alleges that the provincial government was not prepared for last year's SARS crisis, did not listen to the front line nurses, and did not do enough to protect them. All of the 30 nurses suing contracted SARS while working at Toronto hospitals. According to the piece, some of the nurses have still not returned to work, many still suffer health problems, such as difficulty breathing, and at least one infected her son, who now has asthma. Ontario Nurses Association president Linda Haslam-Stroud noted that "hundreds" of Ontario nurses had been infected during the SARS outbreak, which killed 44 people.

See Karen Palmer's article "30 nurses hit province with SARS lawsuit" in the March 26, 2004 edition of the Toronto Star.