$9 M hospital settlement for law-suit alleging poor cleaning

Joseph Brant Memorial Hospital has agreed to settle a law-suit by approximately two-hundred victims of a C. difficile outbreak at the hospital for $9,000,000, the Hamilton Spectator reports. That is an average of about $45,000 per claimant.

The law-suit alleged the Burlington hospital was not properly cleaned, maintained and disinfected.

OCHU has long warned that hospitals would be subject to law-suits because of cuts to housekeeping services. Since the 1970s hospital support services have been cut back again and again. Ninety-one patients infected with C. difficile died.

The settlement must still be approved by the courts. The Spec adds "that lawyers for the plaintiffs will be paid $1.122 million, for partial fees and out-of-pocket disbursements to date, plus 15 per cent of what their clients receive in payments. There is also a sum - capped at $375,000 - to pay a court-appointed administrator to oversee the settlement and apportion the money."

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