Woman diagnosed with PTSD after Winnipeg hospital stabbing sues over dismissal

A former health-care worker who was involved in the emergency response of a stabbing at a Winnipeg hospital alleges she was wrongfully terminated due to the state of her mental health.

Lori Schellenberg contends the resulting post-traumatic stress disorder she was diagnosed with led to her employers — Seven Oaks General Hospital and the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority — dismissing her in December 2023, according to a statement of claim filed Dec. 16 of this year in Court of King’s Bench.

Schellenberg submitted a previous statement of claim in October 2023.

She was working at the hospital on Oct. 27, 2021, when she walked into the atrium and was one of the first people to respond to coworker Candyce Szkwarek who sustained what police called "horrifically severe” injuries after being stabbed by a man.

Schellenberg, who was in a senior management position in the hospital’s renal program at the time, described it as “a surreal and chaotic scene” that required her “immediate and life-saving intervention,” the lawsuit says.

Before entering the hospital and stabbing Szkwarek about 20 times, Trevor Robert Farley killed his parents — Stuart Farley and Judy Swain — earlier that same day at separate locations in Winnipeg and New Bothwell, Man., respectively.

Farley was found not criminally responsible for the killings, as had well as the attempted murder of his former supervisor at the hospital, because of a mental disorder.

Schellenberg was promoted three times during her nearly 16-year term employment at the hospital, and “continually proved herself to be a valuable and reliable employee and performed all of her duties faithfully, loyally, diligently and in a highly competent manner,” the statement of claim asserts.

She continued working at the hospital immediately following the incident, but soon demonstrated psychiatric symptoms and was excused from work by her psychologist effective mid-December 2021.

Schellenberg received “ongoing and regular treatment” from several medical professionals during her time away from work, but remained “highly motivated” to return to her position in the hospital’s renal program, the suit alleges.

Plaintiff didn't receive supports from employers

She gradually returned to the hospital in late March 2023, but soon began to experience challenges in the workplace. Schellenberg claims she was repeatedly questioned by hospital management about her health, told “she didn’t look healthy” and that her return to work was “too aggressive,” which upset her.

Less than a month after returning to the workplace, the defendants were notified by the health authority’s case management co-ordinator with Occupational and Environmental Safety & Health that the defendants had failed to understand their role in helping Schellenberg return to the hospital.

She was relocated to an office position in May 2023, a decision that disappointed her.

“Not being given the opportunity to work on the renal unit of the hospital where she could do meaningful work and adapt to her ultimate working environment was counter-productive to her recovery and return to work,” the claim says.

Schellenberg’s psychologist thought it best to remove her from the hospital in July 2023 until such time as she could find more suitable employment within the health authority.

Her termination just before Christmas 2023 “constituted discrimination,” according to the lawsuit.

The hospital, health authority and their agents treated Schellenberg in “an inhumane, callous and oppressive manner” at the time of her dismissal, according to the lawsuit.

She claims the defendants knew at the time of her termination that she was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and in a very fragile mental and emotional state.

Her firing was “shockingly harsh, malicious and reprehensible and done in bad faith,” the statement of claim says.

Schellenberg also contends in the suit that the defendant didn’t provide her with any support or assistance in coping with the aftermath of the October 2021 incident, and instead “seized upon this opportunity to dismiss her” on the basis of her mental state.

She believes any future attempts to return to the health-care field are hampered by her dismissal, age as well as the physical and mental distress she deals with following the stabbing.

Schellenberg is seeking a declaration from the hospital and the health authority that she was wrongfully dismissed. She is also seeking general, punitive, exemplary, aggravated, moral and bad faith damages, as well as for lost income and court costs.