Victims of a woman who passed herself off as a nurse at BC Women’s Hospital and other places told a B.C. Supreme Court judge Dec. 9 their experiences have left them distrusting the medical system, and experiencing anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Brigitte Cleroux has pleaded guilty to multiple charges of assault, fraud, impersonating a nurse and forgery in connection with cases at the hospital, a dentist’s office, and a Vancouver Island clinic.
The Crown is asking for a total of 15 years in prison, a term of incarceration suggested to include a sentence she is already serving in Ontario for similar crimes.
The cases span three indictments before the court in a case Crown prosecutor Alexander Burton called “highly unusual.”
Burton told Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes Cleroux’s crimes have impacted more than 900 people.
“The accused is not nor has she ever been a licensed or accredited nurse in . . . any jurisdiction,” Burton said.
He said she has multiple past convictions and has served sentences for crimes in Alberta, Ontario and Quebec and said she has not learned from those.
She claimed to have been licensed in Colorado, Florida, B.C. and Ontario at various points, the court heard.
At one point, Burton said Cleroux created an email address for a supposed previous employer for prospective employers to contact.
“She gave herself glowing references,” Burton said.
“This would be the fourth, fifth and sixth time she has presented herself fraudulently as a nurse,” the Crown lawyer said.
“She cannot be trusted to be in the community without committing fraud,” he later added. “She has done all of this for greed.”
Broken down, the individual sentences add up to significantly more than that but the courts use the so-called totality principle to arrive at appropriate sentences for multiple crimes.
However, it is Holmes who has the final decision on how long Cleroux will spend behind bars.
What happened
The court heard Cleroux had impersonated a real nurse and used her credentials to get work at the hospital. She also used that information to sign documents for Blue Cross and pension coverage.
Payments to her were going into her own bank account as she had crossed out her name and wrote in the other person’s name on cheques to set up direct deposit.
The assault allegations came as a result of using needles to inject patients without consent.
In the case of View Royal Surgery on Vancouver Island, the allegation was fraud exceeding $5,000 for using the real nurse’s identification once more to get work. Her work involved narcotics medication, managing pain and discharge issues.
The court heard she was a team leader in a post-anesthetic care unit at BC Women’s Hospital dealing with such things as blood transfusions, heart monitoring, and other issues.
Complaints soon began to trickle in, some about a lack of professionalism, others about poor nursing skills or conduct.
It was in November 2020 that Cleroux was warned about her conduct after she told off someone for complaining about being in pain.
“The patient was a nurse herself,” Burton said.
In other situations, she did not know the maximum dose allowable and was in breach of ethical practices for a registered nurse.
Then, in December 2020, there were allegations of an injection where blood had sprayed all over, that no protective gear was worn and poor narcotics handling was witnessed. One case involved Cleroux using excessive force to put on a blood pressure cuff.
By June 2021, Cleroux was given letters about hospital concerns about her. When meetings were called, she emailed to say she was resigning.
“She was terminated by the hospital,” Burton said.
The prosecutor said Cleroux’s prospects for rehabilitation are “extremely low to nil.”
Victim impact statements
The court received 25 victim impact statements, with two women reading them in court, neither looking at Cleroux as they came forward. They cannot be identified by court order.
The first said that, as a result of her interactions with Cleroux, she is on anxiety medication, is always "on high alert," and is angry and on edge.
“My life will never be the same since this criminal touched me,” the woman said.
The second, choking back tears, said her consent to receive medical treatment for gynecological procedures was violated.
“I did not consent to having an unqualified person involved,” she said as Cleroux sat in the prisoner’s dock shaking her head. The patient said she “experienced a complete loss of trust in my doctor.”
As a result of that, the woman had to go on a waiting list for a new physician and await new treatment.
Burton read a further statement from a third victim, a teacher who had to take time off work to deal with depression and withdrawal from her family. She said Cleroux had administered fentanyl to her three times.
The woman said she expected professional care and instead experienced assault.
“The trauma I endured that day has irrevocably altered my life,” she said. “The trust I once had in the medical system has been irrevocably shattered.”
She said she fears medical system interactions, checks professionals' credentials, suffers debilitating anxiety, and will carry scars of her encounters with Cleroux for the rest of her life.
In custody
Cleroux has been in custody since her arrest by Ottawa police in August 2021.
The first B.C. charges were detailed in a Nov. 19, 2021 court information.
The initial charges were approved after the Vancouver Police Department launched a months-long investigation spurred by reports of a BC Women’s Hospital employee allegedly fraudulently identifying herself as a nurse between June 2020 and June 2021.
VPD’s financial crime unit found a woman had allegedly fraudulently used the name of a real nurse while providing medical care to patients at the hospital.
There are also a number of civil lawsuits pending against Cleroux.
She is represented by Vancouver lawyer Guillaume Garih, who is due to present his sentencing submissions on Dec. 10.
Cleroux has the option of addressing the court before her sentence is passed.
