Kenneth Laroza's mother, Nelia Laroza, died in the SARS crisis. He spoke outside Osgoode Hall after the Ontario court of appeal heard arguments about whether the province can be sued over its handling of the SARS outbreak of 2003, which killed 44 people. (Feb. 25, 2009)
Justice sought for nurse who died of SARS
February 26, 2009
LEGAL AFFAIRS REPORTER
Their lawyer calls it "SARS-gate." But to Kenneth and Grace Laroza, it's less about catchy names than loss of life.
Their mother, Nelia, a nurse at North York General Hospital, died in June 2003 at age 51 from the second wave of SARS to hit Toronto.
So it was hard for the Larozas to listen from the benches of a Toronto court yesterday as an Ontario government lawyer tried to get their lawsuit tossed before a trial.
Nobody was immune from SARS, but the province is immune from SARS lawsuits, Crown counsel Lise Favreau told Ontario Court of Appeal judges, arguing provincial health officials owed no "duty of care" to hospital workers or patients exposed to the deadly disease.
That didn't sit well with Kenneth Laroza, 22, who told reporters he is suing to ensure health-care workers will be better protected during future public health crises.
"I want to make sure once something like this happens again, the people who are taking care of us are being taken care of," said Laroza.
"My mother was a very caring person. She loved her job," he said, adding she was vigilant about showering and minimizing contact with the family after coming home from work when the SARS crisis hit.
Yet Laroza himself became infected with SARS and ended up in a hospital room three doors down from his mother. They spoke by phone and "made a pact to each other that once I was going to get better, she was going get better."
Instead, he graduated from high school and university without her.
Statements of claim filed by the Larozas and others allege that once the World Health Organization issued a travel advisory in April 2003, discouraging tourists from visiting Toronto, the province made softening the economic impact of that warning its priority, prematurely relaxing infection-control measures and declaring the crisis over.
Hospitals, too, tried to minimize the disease's presence, suggested Lisa Miron, the Larozas' lawyer. While Nelia Laroza's hospital admittance records said her illness was probably SARS, her discharge report listed it as "viral flu."
Whether the province owed a "duty of care" to people such as Laroza depends in part on whether the government was in a close and direct relationship with victims, and whether harm could be expected to result from its alleged mistakes.
Favreau told a three-judge panel headed by Justice Robert Sharpe if there's legal liability arising from SARS, it lies with hospitals and Toronto's public health officials.
The fate of the SARS lawsuits against Ontario was determined in 2006, Favreau argued, when the appeal court threw out claims against the province for the spread of West Nile virus. The court said the province did not create the risk of the mosquito-borne disease.
But Sharpe, who wrote that decision, noted SARS plaintiffs argue that while mosquitoes are "everywhere," SARS spread from person to person and that tended to happen in health-care facilities.
But such facilities are not operated by the province, Favreau said.
With files from The Canadian Press
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