A judge has ruled that a lawsuit launched by the son of a Canso senior whose death was allegedly caused by the local pharmacy’s prescription error will proceed.
Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice Joshua Arnold’s decision says 90-year-old Bernice Bond had a prescription filled at Canso Pharmacy on May 3, 2016, and died June 16, 2016, from what a medical examiner described as an acute overdose of medication.
Bond’s son, Carl Bond, filed a statement of claim against the pharmacist and an unnamed pharmacy assistant on June 15, 2017, under the Fatal Injuries Act, alleging Bond was given an excessive amount of her prescription in error.
Lawyers for the defendants argued the case should not proceed because under the Pharmacy Act a lawsuit has to be filed within a year from when the “services were rendered,” and therefore the plaintiff filed the claim six weeks too late.
But Bond’s lawyer, Raymond Wagner, argued that his client had one year from the date of death under the Fatal Injuries Act.
Arnold ruled that the time frame set out in the Fatal Injuries Act applies in this case and therefore the time frame set out in the Pharmacy Act is irrelevant.