A war veteran with PTSD who’s suing his psychiatric nurse and her former employer for sexual acts, inappropriate professional conduct and manipulation, said she displayed “flirtatious mannerisms” by telling him he smelled good during a psychiatric assessment in September 2021, soon after he was admitted, according to a writ filed in court.
Craig Dolan, a “psychiatrically disabled Afghanistan veteran,” alleges in the notice of civil claim filed in B.C. Supreme Court that Victoria Wilson, his assigned nurse during his 90-day stay at the Sunshine Coast Health Centre in Powell River, then asked him to sneak out to come to her Christmas party and sent him text and other messages on social media before they kissed about a month after he was admitted.
Dolan was being treated as an in-patient for “combat-induced post traumatic stress disorder and resulting addiction of heroin and cocaine” for the second time at the centre, having relapsed after completing the 90-day program in 2019, he said in the writ.
By October 2021, he and Wilson were regularly having sex in his room and her office at the centre, while he was under her direct care for several treatments a day, and once in a hotel room when Dolan snuck out of the facility, according to the writ.
“The defendant Wilson told the plaintiff not to tell anyone about this as it was frowned upon,” the writ said.
Wilson sent nude photos of herself, talked about wanting to become a couple and sent him pictures of her ovulation times and romantic notes, according to the writ.
The two “were planning their life together” and on Dec. 5, 2021, two days after Dolan was released from treatment, Wilson told him: “I love you, I want to have your baby,” he said in the writ.
Dolan returned that day to his home in Ontario and their relationship continued, with the exchange of romantic cards and gifts. When he returned to Vancouver for a weekend, they spent the whole time together.
They also met in Toronto and celebrated Valentine’s Day in a hotel room. They were “looking at wedding venues as their relationship progressed,” the writ said.
Wilson quit her job at the Sunshine Coast facility in February 2022. The two met in Vancouver in April 2022, staying downtown, going to the Vancouver Canucks’ game and having expensive dinners, which cost Wilson $4,000, the writ said.
And she bought Dolan earrings, a necklace and a bracelet worth $7,000, he said in the writ.
Dolan ended the relationship in June 2022.
The writ said the treatment centre had abandoned Dolan in its duty of care it owed him because of its knowledge of Wilson’s actions or because it “received reports from others of conduct that warranted further investigation and action.”
Dolan said in his writ that during office hours Wilson texted him a photo of herself and her nursing supervisor and a fellow nurse, saying the supervisor says hi and that she was doing karaoke with the nurse. The writ noted that both are still listed as employees on the centre’s website.
“As an apparent result of the sexual acts, manipulation and inappropriate professional conduct inflicted on the plaintiff by defendant Wilson,” and the abandonment by the centre, Dolan has “sustained serious personal injuries, damages and loss,” the writ says.
He is seeking declaration that Wilson and the centre breached the standard of care and fiduciary duties owed to Dolan as well as general, special, pecuniary, aggravated and punitive damages, as well as loss of income earring capacity, the writ said.
Both defendants were negligent in their duty to prevent abuse to the patient, it said.
His writ lists his injuries as anxiety, loss of emotional and mental health, mental distress, emotional trauma, loss of confidence, digressed social ability, withdrawal from others, emotional breakdown, PTSD, insomnia, depression, and relapse of his addiction and PTSD.
The allegations have not been proven in court and Wilson and the centre have not filed a response to the claim.
Messages left on Monday with Wilson and the centre were not returned.
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