Patients eligible to receive compensation from a $5.4-million settlement against Quebec hospitals due to lengthy wait times have only a few weeks left to file their claim.

Those who waited more than 12 weeks for radiotherapy to treat breast cancer between October 13, 1997 and March 26, 2009 are eligible for compensation from a class-action settlement against 12 hospitals.

"We're expecting about 3000-4000 women will be eligible for this settlement," said Michel Savonitto, attorney for the breast cancer patients.

Women have until March 31 to file their claim.

Relief for patients

The news of compensation was welcomed by Johanne Lavoie, a single mother who waited two months for surgery and then kept waiting again for radiation after she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

"I was crying; I was panicked. I didn't know what to do," said Lavoie, who was among thousands of Quebec women were kept waiting longer than the recommended maximum time of 12 weeks due to a shortage of radio-oncologists in the province.

She was eventually bussed to the U.S. for treatment, as were with other cancer patients.

"I had a son who was only five, so at that moment, I was very frightened," she said.

Groundbreaking settlement

The compensation package was initially estimated to be worth between $15 and $25 million, but lawyers and hospitals settled on the $5.4 million without heading to court.

Still, said Savonitto, it was a groundbreaking settlement.

"Maybe this can open the door for other class actions around the country for medical treatment," he said.

Hospitals involved

The 12 hospitals involved in the case are:

  • Centre hospitalier universitaire de Montréal (CHUM), Hôpital Notre-Dame
  • Centre hospitalier universitaire de Montréal (CHUM), Hôtel-Dieu
  • Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont
  • Sir Mortimer B. Davis Jewish Hospital
  • McGill University Health Center (MUHC), Montreal General Hospital
  • McGill University Health Center (MUHC), Royal Victoria Hospital
  • Centre hospitalier universitaire de Québec (CHUQ), Hôtel-Dieu de Québec
  • Centre de santé et de services sociaux de Chicoutimi
  • Centre hospitalier de santé et de services sociaux de Gatineau
  • Centre universitaire de santé de l'Estrie (now the Centre hospitalier universitaire de Sherbrooke), Hôpital Fleurimont
  • Centre hospitalier régional de Trois-Rivières
  • Centre de santé et services sociaux de Rimouski-Neigette

To register

To receive compensation, anyone eligible, either a patient or a personal representative of a patient now deceased, must register at https://www.cancerwaitclaim.com/ or by telephone at 1-866-ATTENTE (1-866-288-3683).