B.C. Women's Hospital allegedly accepted photocopy of altered cheque as only ID for fake nurse

When a serial fraudster with a long history of impersonation applied for a nursing job at B.C. Women's Hospital, administrators accepted a copy of a cheque that had been altered with Wite-Out as her only identification, new court documents allege.

An exhibit filed last week in a proposed class action lawsuit against the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA) claims that Brigitte Cleroux was not required to produce government ID when she applied for a job at the Vancouver hospital in June 2020.

"The defendant accepted a photocopy of a personal cheque from Cleroux where she had whited out her name at the top of the cheque and handwritten the name Melanie Smith, as confirmation of Cleroux's identity as Melanie Smith," reads a notice to admit sworn in B.C. Supreme Court on Nov. 24.

The notice is a set of alleged facts that representative plaintiff Miranda Massie has asked PHSA to admit to be true.

It goes on to allege that no one at PHSA took the time to check or verify the references Cleroux had listed in her falsified resumé.

Scott Stanley, the lawyer who represents Massie, told CBC that the health authority has declined to admit to any of the allegations in the notice.

PHSA has not responded to requests for comment.

Massie's proposed class action lawsuit alleges negligence by PHSA for hiring Cleroux and holds the health authority liable for battery and breach of privacy. 

In its response to the original claim, PHSA denies that it should have known Cleroux wasn't a qualified nurse or that her deception should have been discovered with due diligence. It says the health authority was also a victim of fraud and did not authorize any of Cleroux's alleged crimes and misconduct.

Cleroux has never held a nursing licence, but over the last two decades, she has been accused or convicted of pretending to be a nurse in Colorado, Ontario, Alberta and B.C. She's also posed as a teacher in Alberta and Quebec.

In all, the 50-year-old from the Ottawa area has amassed at least 67 criminal convictions as an adult.

She is currently facing 17 criminal charges, including allegations of assaulting 10 patients while posing as a perioperative nurse at B.C. Women's Hospital from June 2020 to June 2021.

Cleroux currently sits in an Ontario prison, serving a seven-year sentence for posing as a nurse at two Ottawa clinics in the summer of 2021.

According to parole documents, Cleroux has used more than 20 aliases to commit fraud over the last three decades.