In Canada, members of a First Nation or indigenous people have alleged that they were subjected to secret medical studies without their consent, leaving them feeling “violated and humiliated.”
The lawsuit brings back painful memories of Canada’s notorious history of carrying out medical experiments on native people and is a reminder of the discrimination they continue to face in the country.
How were they tricked into a medical experiment?
A class-action lawsuit has been filed where Chief Andrea Paul, the lead plaintiff, says that she and 60 indigenous people belonging to the Pictou Landing First Nation participated in an MRI examination in 2017 under a research project by the Canadian Alliance for Healthy Hearts and Minds.
Following the test, the staff of Halifax Hospital, where the MRI was conducted, asked Paul to stay back for a second test.
According to the statement of claim, “As she lay inside the claustrophobic MRI chamber, holding her breath, and cringing from the loud banging sounds around her, the MRI scans generated data that revealed intimate medical information about her body without her knowledge or consent.”
The statement further claims that she was singled out for being a member of Mi’kmaq First Nation.
A year later, Paul, who also serves as regional chief of the Assembly of First Nations in Nova Scotia, found that two radiologists conducted an MRI elastography in the second test to study the livers of the indigenous subjects.
The test results were neither shared with the plaintiffs nor with the researchers of the Canadian Alliance for Healthy Hearts and Minds.
Through the lawsuit, Paul and the 60 others have sought a declaration from the defendants over the invasion of privacy, unlawful imprisonment, negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract, charter breaches and damages.