BY ALLISON LAWLOR
Globe and Mail Update

Two nurses at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children have been charged in the death of a 10-year-old girl three years ago while in their care.

Ruth Doerksen, 41, and Anagaile Soriano, 25, were charged on Thursday with criminal negligence causing the death of Lisa Shore, the Toronto police said.

The nurses are accused of failing to correctly monitor Lisa's morphine drip while she was a patient at the Hospital for Sick Children in October, 1998. She was being treated for chronic leg pain.

A coroner's inquest in February, 2000, ruled the death a homicide, but that verdict was merely a finding of fact carrying no weight in the criminal justice system.

"It's actually quite a sad day for her (Lisa's mother Sharon Shore)," said Frank Gomberg, the lawyer for the family.

"She has mixed feelings about the charges," he said, adding that the family did not push for the charges but instead has only ever wanted to get the truth about their daughter's treatment.

Mr. Gomberg said he is not surprised by the charges calling the alleged actions "abysmal."

Michael Strofolino, president and chief executive officer of Sick Kids hospital issued a statement on Thursday.

"The Hospital for Sick Children is deeply saddened, for everyone involved, by the announcement that criminal proceedings will begin against two nurses relating to the death of Lisa Shore," the statement read.

"Regrettably, human error occurred during Lisa Shore's treatment."

Following the coroner's inquest, the hospital reported the two nurses to the College of Nurses of Ontario and is awaiting the results of the College's disciplinary hearing scheduled to start on Dec. 4.

In February, 2000, the five-member coroner's jury ruled that the cause of Lisa's death was a complex drug interaction leading to cardiac and respiratory arrest. She died on Oct. 22, 1998, eight hours after being admitted for chronic leg pain related to her rare, non-fatal condition of reflex sympathetic dystrophy.

Hospital staff attached Lisa to a morphine pump to control the pain. Because of her condition, Lisa had also been taking a medication known to heighten the sedative effects of morphine.

The two nurses testified at the inquest that they used a monitor to keep track of the girl's condition during the night. But Lisa's mother, was sleeping nearby, and she testified no such device was installed. The girl was dead in the morning.

Charges against health-care workers are rare in Canada and practitioners across the country will be watching the case closely.

If convicted of criminal negligence, the nurses could face a maximum penalty of life in prison.

A nursing union has said nurses will lose confidence in their work if they must treat patients under the constant threat of criminal charges if the patient should die.

Mr. Gomberg flatly rejected this view saying that the nurses' behaviour was unacceptable and it now in the courts hands to decide if their actions were criminal.

Ms. Doerksen and Ms. Soriano, who have been on paid leave from Sick Kids hospital since Jan. 2000, were expected to be released on bail Thursday. They are scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 22.

With a report from Canadian Press