Fake nurse pleads guilty to assaulting patients by IV injection

A fake nurse who treated nearly 1,000 patients at medical facilities in Vancouver and Victoria wept Friday as she pleaded guilty to assaulting victims with the weapon of her would-be trade — an intravenous needle.

Clutching a box of tissues as she appeared in front of a B.C. Supreme Court judge via video, Brigitte Cleroux uttered the word "guilty" 11 times in response to a series of criminal charges ranging from impersonation and assault to using forged documents.

The pleas relate to investigations in three separate jurisdictions where the 52-year-old managed to obtain work by combining the name of a real nurse — Melanie Smith — with a resumé and references spun out of lies.

According to documents filed in the case, Cleroux cared for at least 899 patients at B.C. Women's Hospital in Vancouver and 56 patients at Victoria's View Royal Surgical Medical Centre.

She also forever changed the life of the real nurse, Melanie Smith.

"The impact on Ms. Smith was significant," reads an agreed statement of facts.

"She was so concerned about actual and potential damage to her name and professional standing that she changed her surname to avoid association with Ms. Cleroux and her activities."

The guilty pleas are the latest chapter in a legal odyssey spanning decades and jurisdictions. Cleroux was previously jailed for five years for fraud and impersonation in Alberta and is currently serving a seven-year sentence for posing as a nurse at two Ontario health-care facilities.

The charges in B.C. relate to money she took in benefits from her various jobs and injections that turned into assaults in the eyes of the law because patients had not consented to be jabbed by a woman with no medical qualifications whatsoever.

According to the agreed statement of facts, Cleroux's parole from the Alberta charges expired on May 15, 2020.

But by that time, she had already come and gone from a Surrey dental clinic where Cleroux was hired as a dental assistant.

On her way out the door, she stole five of the dentist's cheques, forging his signature on amounts totalling $8,000.

Cleroux was hired as a full-time general duty nurse at B.C. Women's Hospital in June 2020 after submitting a resumé in the name of Melanie Smith, providing the real nurse's actual professional registration number.

In addition to claiming credentials as a certified flight nurse and a registered nurse anesthetist, Cleroux also manipulated the application process so her new employer wound up unwittingly seeking references from email addresses the fraudster controlled.