No criminality in death of Fredericton ER waiting room patient, say police

The death of a patient waiting for care at the Fredericton hospital's emergency department last year did not involve any criminality, police have determined.

Darrell Mesheau, 78, died in the ER waiting room of the Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital on July 12, 2022.

A coroner's inquest into the death of the former diplomat was scheduled to begin on May 29 but was abruptly postponed when new information was brought forward.

The coroner's office reopened its investigation, but it then contacted police about the new information in June. The Department of Justice and Public Safety has never said what the nature of the new information is. 

"The Fredericton Police Force has concluded its investigation and found no criminality in the case," spokesperson Sonya Gilks told CBC.

She declined to discuss the nature of the allegations involved — only that the major crime unit was investigating "the circumstances surrounding the death of Darrell Mesheau."

Appeared to fall asleep, witness said

Witness John Staples told CBC News at the time that an elderly man had been waiting alone in a wheelchair, in visible discomfort, for hours when he appeared to fall asleep. 

It was only during a routine check of people in the waiting room that a hospital employee realized the man had stopped breathing, Staples said.

The death of Mesheau, a father of two and grandfather of one, sparked outrage across the province and prompted a major shakeup of New Brunswick's health-care leadership.

Premier Blaine Higgs fired Horizon Health Network president and CEO John Dornan, replaced Dorothy Shephard as health minister, and removed the boards of both Horizon and Vitalité.

The lack of consistent patient monitoring and the inability to meet standards in the emergency department waiting room decreases the likelihood for early recognition in patient health decline.- Horizon quality process review

Dornan was subsequently awarded a record-breaking $2 million by a labour arbitrator in his unjust dismissal case against the province — a decision upheld this week by Court of King's Bench Justice Kathryn Gregory.

A quality process review conducted by Horizon found, "The lack of consistent patient monitoring and the inability to meet standards in the emergency department waiting room decreases the likelihood for early recognition in patient health decline," internal documents obtained by CBC News through a right-to-information request showed.

A quality process review helps to "determine the contributing factors that led to a patient safety incident with harm of a serious nature" and to identify recommendations for improvement, the documents state.

"It will not investigate individual performance, identify individuals or determine fault in any circumstance."

Among the recommendations was to "identify and implement a strategy to ensure all waiting room patients are reassessed according to the [Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale] reassessment guidelines."

The licensed practical nurses who were assigned to check on patients in the ER waiting room the night Mesheau died were also assigned to other tasks and "could not commit to regular checks," the documents revealed.

The nurse-to-patient ratio the day Mesheau died was "alarmingly high and unquestionably … unsafe," according to local representatives of the New Brunswick Nurses Union. 

There were 17 admitted patients in the ER and 29 registered patients in the waiting room, the Horizon Health Network documents showed.

Inquest date unclear

Five days had been set aside and about 125 people summonsed for potential jury duty when the inquest was originally scheduled for last spring.

On Friday, department spokesperson Allan Dearing said Coroner Services is in the process of rescheduling the inquest for the spring.

He said jury summonses usually get sent out about six weeks prior to an inquest and generally 125 summons are issued.

He declined to comment on the police investigation.

The presiding coroner and jury will publicly hear evidence from witnesses to determine the facts surrounding Mesheau's death. The jury will then have an opportunity to make recommendations aimed at preventing deaths under similar circumstances.

The New Brunswick Coroner Service is an independent fact-finding agency that does not make any finding of legal responsibility.