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Daughter of late resident says decision should send ‘shock waves’ through nursing homes
Published Feb 11, 2026 • Last updated 6 hours ago • 7 minute read
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Former Loch Lomond Villa CEO Cindy Donovan is pictured here in this file photo. BRUNSWICK NEWS ARCHIVESArticle content
A former Saint John nursing home CEO who evicted a resident during the COVID-19 pandemic has been cleared on two out of three professional misconduct allegations by a discipline committee.
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In an oral decision Monday, Cindy Donovan, former CEO of Loch Lomond Villa, was found not guilty of violating nursing standards when she decided to discharge resident Pauline Breen, a frail 83-year-old who had dementia, after her family expressed concerns over her care without first deploying alternate options to keep her in the home.
Donovan was also found not guilty of violating nursing standards for the level and quality of communication she had with the resident’s family before and during Breen’s discharge to the Saint John Regional Hospital in 2021.
Breen died in hospice on June 6, 2021, a little more than two weeks after she was evicted from Loch Lomond Villa and first taken to the hospital.
On the third allegation, Donovan was found guilty of breaching standards for failing to safeguard personal and family information by sending a letter out to Loch Lomond Villa families regarding Breen’s eviction – without naming the resident – after her story was publicized in the media.
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The ruling was handed down orally, with written reasons to follow, by a four-member panel of the discipline committee of the College of Nursing of New Brunswick, which regulates the province’s registered nurses and nurse practitioners.
It’s yet to be determined by the panel if Donovan, who was the longtime CEO of Loch Lomond Villa until 2023, will be penalized for the privacy breach, but her lawyer Kelly VanBuskirk argued that the registered nurse has endured enough through the public disciplinary process.
Donovan, who sat beside her lawyer and took notes during parts of Monday’s virtual disciplinary hearing, is no longer working in any nursing home, according to VanBuskirk.
“The process, in some ways, is the penalty,” the lawyer said. “This has not been a private process.
“This is well known and Ms. Donovan’s already lived that experience.”
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Breen’s daughter Susan Steels says she was pleased to see Donovan held accountable for the privacy breach, but she had been hopeful that the former CEO would also be held accountable for how her late mother was treated throughout the ordeal.
“(This decision) should be sending shock waves through any family, any resident, that no one’s safe to speak up,” Steels said in an interview after Monday’s hearing.
“No one is safe to bring their concerns forward, and if they can blame the family and say that they’re entitled to evict people if families bring up concerns, then these horrible situations are going to keep repeating themselves.”
A message left at VanBuskirk’s office seeking comment from Donovan wasn’t returned as of deadline.
Allegations of ‘aggressive and disrespectful’ behaviour disputed
An agreed statement of facts was read into the record at Monday’s hearing outlining the series of events before, during and after Breen’s eviction from Loch Lomond Villa.
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According to that statement, Breen’s children emailed Loch Lomond Villa on April 20, 2021, to express concern about their mother’s care.
By that point, the relationship had been deteriorating for months between the resident’s care team and her children.
“The relationship ultimately became uncomfortable, and facility staff interpreted some of the actions of the resident’s children as aggressive and disrespectful, including recording facility staff without their consent,” said Melissa Everett Withers, counsel for the College of Nursing of New Brunswick, who read the statement into the record.
On April 22 – after hearing about another incident involving the resident’s children – Donovan responded to the family’s email, asking if they wished to take Breen home for 30 or more days to care for her, and if that wasn’t a feasible option, the Villa would facilitate a transfer of Breen to another nursing home.
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The family immediately responded that they were seeking clarification on these options, but after hearing from staff that the family was engaging a lawyer, Donovan decided to discharge the resident after consulting with the Villa’s board of directors and the Department of Social Development, according to the statement.
In an April 27 letter sent to the family, Donovan formally advised that Breen would be discharged in 15 days “due to the lack of trust you have expressed in our care.”
Under New Brunswick’s Nursing Home Act at the time, a nursing home operator was able for any reason to discharge a resident by simply providing 15 days’ notice of its intention to do so to the resident’s next of kin or legal representative.
That legislation changed months after Breen’s eviction story became public.
A nursing home operator can now only discharge a resident in four specific circumstances and is required to give 30 days’ notice.
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On May 22 – after the discharge date had been pushed back – Breen was transported to the Saint John Regional Hospital instead of another nursing home because the day prior, a staff member learned from the family that no other nursing home placement had been arranged despite previous information to the contrary, according to the statement of facts.
The statement of facts was agreed upon by New Brunswick’s nursing regulator – who prosecuted the case against Donovan – and by the former CEO herself, not by the family, the latter of whom wasn’t able to represent themselves under disciplinary hearing rules.
Susan Steels and her mother Pauline Breen visit at Loch Lomond Villa during the COVID-19 pandemic. Breen died less than a month after being evicted from the nursing home in 2021. SUBMITTED
In an interview, Steels denied that her family was aggressive and recording staff members. She said her family followed the rules laid out to them by the Villa in terms of communication.
Steels is frustrated that her family wasn’t able to have a voice at the hearing and defend itself, but she has no regrets about filing the complaint on behalf of her late mother.
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“I was brought up to stand up to bullies,” Steels said. “I was brought up to do the right thing.”
Hospital appropriate place to send resident: lawyer
While there was an agreed statement of facts, New Brunswick’s nursing regulator and lawyers for the former CEO disagreed on whether or not Donovan’s actions constituted professional misconduct.
Lawyers for Donovan argued that the province’s nursing regulator didn’t have legal oversight of the matter as the discharge process fell under a different law and that it was Loch Lomond Villa Inc. – not its CEO – who was responsible for discharging Breen.
But in the event the panel disagreed on those two preliminary points, lawyers for Donovan laid out a multi-pronged defence, including that the communication breakdown with the home was due to the family, that it wasn’t a practical option to keep Breen at the Villa, and that it was appropriate to move her to a hospital given the family’s concerns over her care.
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“Certainly, if I were a person with dementia and in poor health, and certainly if the care team at the Loch Lomond Villa wasn’t able to meet my family’s needs and expectations, I would hope that I would be sent to the Saint John Regional Hospital,” VanBuskirk said.
Co-counsel Daniel Wilband argued that there was no evidence presented that Breen’s move to the hospital had “any negative impact” on her, and that her family “deliberately created a public controversy about the discharge,” waiving any rights to privacy in the case.
Everett Withers, counsel for the College of Nursing of New Brunswick, argued that while the law at the time allowed for the discharge, it doesn’t mean that a nurse in exercising her duties doesn’t have to comply with the standards of practice and that the discipline committee had the jurisdiction to hear the case.
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Everett Withers pushed back on the notion that it was up to the family to communicate when it’s up to the nurse, under the standards, to communicate effectively and support the family to make informed decisions.
Under the standards, Everett Withers said it’s the resident’s best interest – not the family’s expectations – that must be respected in terms of care.
She argued that Donovan was “frustrated with the resident’s children” and “ultimately took it on the resident by discharging an 83-year-old woman with dementia.”
“I think that one very basic fact answers the majority of the issues in this complaint, and that is that Ms. Donovan did not seek to restrict or prohibit certain family members from visiting the nursing home to avoid the difficulties or friction between them and staff, and instead, she moved to discharge the resident.”
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As for sending a letter to fellow residents’ families, Everett Withers said that’s “not reasonable to assume that if a resident or the resident’s family has discussed something publicly, then that gives carte blanche to a nurse to send an unsolicited public letter with respect to that resident’s personal circumstances.”
Everett Withers argued that Donovan should be ordered to appear before the committee to receive a reprimand for the privacy breach, as well have a condition placed on her certificate of registration to obtain and pass two remedial privacy courses, and that she be responsible for one-third of costs associated with the case.
Lawyers for Donovan argued that she shouldn’t receive a penalty, but if she does, it should be a letter of guidance, which isn’t a public mark on her record.
“That would be the appropriate remedy, and that’s what we would ask you to consider, because if we could say this: We don’t see frankly the point in pummeling someone who’s already been pummeled for four years,” VanBuskirk said.
“We don’t see what good comes out of it.”
A decision on punishment is expected to be released at a later date by the committee.
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