Hearing set regarding release of documents for trial of Cape Breton nurse
Cape Breton Post
Published: Dec 11, 2019 at 2:34 p.m.
Updated: Dec 12, 2019 at 7:26 a.m.
Court news - Contributed
SYDNEY, N.S. —
A hearing date has been set into whether newly released records from the Nova Scotia Health Authority will be entered into evidence at the trial of a nurse charged in relation to the death of a 79-year-old man at the Cape Breton Regional Hospital.
Provincial court Judge Diane McGrath scheduled Dec. 18 as the date for the hearing.
Charged are registered nurse Tammy Mary-Rose Carrigan-Warner, 43, of Sydney River, and Valerie Marie MacGillivary, 48, of Glace Bay, a licensed practical nurse. Both are charged with using a forged document (check sheets and nursing flow sheets), as if genuine.
Carrigan-Warner's trial continues this week. The trial for MacGillivary was set for Dec. 16-19 but a new date will now be scheduled. There was some indication Monday that the trial may be set for February.
The records were only released to the Crown last week and are considered third-party records and come with an expectation of privacy.
The holder of the records and individuals referred to in the documents are entitled to be notified of the possible disclosure and can contest the records being released.
It will be up to the judge to decide whether the information is relevant and whether all or only part of the record can be released to the defence.
MacGIllivary's defence lawyer Tony Mozvik said, based on the information from the Crown, he wants the records released.
The nurses are charged after 79-year-old Colin Francis MacDonald froze to death outside the hospital in the early morning hours of Feb. 23, 2018.
MacDonald was a patient at the Sydney hospital awaiting transfer to a long-term care facility.
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