B.C. Supreme Court has final say on poisoning settlement after woman dies

VERNON, B.C. – A British Columbia Supreme Court has confirmed a $440,000 cash settlement for a family after a mother of four was accidentally poisoned to death at Vernon’s Royal Jubilee Hospital.

Forty-year-old Brenda Gaida went to the hospital for a treatable skin condition while on vacation from Edmonton and was given a daily dose of methrotrexate (meth-row-trex-ate), when it should have been a weekly dose.

The hospital and the Interior Health Authority admitted that Gaida died from poisoning, and that four doctors were at fault for negligent care and treatment.

Court documents say both parties sought a settlement, but while the hospital believed both sides had agreed to the $440,000, Gaida’s husband said no binding settlement had ever been concluded.

The documents say Gaida’s husband wanted more than $1 million and that he claimed he told his lawyer $440,000 would only be acceptable if certain conditions were met, but the lawyer defied his instructions by accepting the offer.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Paul Pearlman found that there was no misapprehension or defiance on the lawyer’s part, and ruled that the settlement agreement is enforceable.