Post by privateinvestors on May 27, 2016 14:16:53 GMT 4
Ottawa foot doctor accused of “reckless” misconduct in lawsuit.
Richmond Hill boy is at the centre of a potential class-action lawsuit after surgery to implant an unapproved foot stent left him in pain.
An 11-year-old boy from Richmond Hill is the key case in a potential class-action lawsuit against an Ottawa chiropodist who allegedly profited from his patients’ foot problems by recommending unapproved and “unsafe” implants he developed.
Pierre Dupont, a registered chiropodist in Ontario with a history of professional misconduct as a dentist in Quebec, is being accused of manufacturing a foot stent — an implant used for flat-footedness and other ailments — that was never approved by Health Canada. According to the statement of claim filed in Ontario Superior Court, Dupont then recommended the treatment and performed the surgeries.
Dupont told the Star on Thursday that people should wait to pass judgment, “because all the facts are not on the table yet.”
“Everything is not known in this affair at this point,” he said. “There’s a lot of things that will be put to the knowledge of the appropriate person along the road. It’s not my role to expose everything at this point. So this is why I prefer not to comment.”
The plaintiff named in the class action is Yuexiao (Patrick) Zhang, whose mother, Jing Liu, is making the claim on his behalf. Toronto-based law firm Thomson, Rogers, representing Liu, is seeking other patients of Dupont to possibly join the class-action suit.
Speaking to the Star in Mandarin, Liu explained her son could run and play before surgery on his right foot in July 2015, but his feet were weak, and she and her husband wanted him to have better opportunities. After researching procedures, the couple — who came to Canada in 2012 — settled on Dupont’s Ottawa Foot Practice, whose website promises “simple surgery with excellent results.”
Liu claimed that, after the procedure, her son’s foot is like a fake foot. She alleged he can’t really run or jump anymore.
In the statement of claim, which contains allegations that have not been proven in court, Liu alleges that her son “developed pain and discomfort in his right foot which caused irritation, irregular gait and loss of balance.” The procedure was not done on the boy’s left foot.
The family is now trying to have the stent removed as soon as possible and is waiting for referral to a surgeon who can perform the procedure.
The suit claims Dupont lacked the surgical and clinical skills required to insert the implant and that he misrepresented the stent and the procedure to his clients.
“He showed a total, reckless, wanton and willful disregard for the health, safety and wellbeing of the plaintiff,” the suit alleges.
The claim also names the College of Chiropodists of Ontario and the Ottawa Foot Practice, run by Dupont. In an email, the College’s registrar and chief administrative officer, Felecia Smith, said the college had “retained counsel and will be responding to the allegations in due course.”
Dupont was previously a dentist for 10 years in Quebec, where several patients made complaints against him. His licence was revoked in 2004 by the provincial body that regulates dentists, following a disciplinary hearing that found he had failed to meet the standards of care. Among other things, he failed to diagnose a patient’s broken jaw and prescribed medication that was not required or in inappropriate doses, tribunal documents show.
After graduating from the podiatry program at the University of Quebec in Trois-Rivieres and making attempts to legally practice podiatry in Quebec — a move challenged by that province’s College of Podatrists — Dupont later moved to Ottawa and was given a certificate of registration to practise by the College of Chiropodists, according to the statement of claim.
Provincial regulations prevent the registration of a chiropodist who has been found guilty of professional misconduct in another jurisdiction or in another health profession.
The suit alleges the college failed to follow those rules, to monitor Dupont, or to properly respond to complaints.
Dupont told the Star that when he applied to the college he disclosed his previous misconduct in an interview.
“They interview me. They do their due diligence,” he said. “Everything has been disclosed and presented to a committee, the admission committee, and they made a decision accordingly.”
Dupont declined to answer any more specifics about his career and the finding of misconduct in Quebec.
The suit, launched in Newmarket court, seeks $15 million and claims the plaintiffs are entitled to special damages, including medical and rehabilitation expenses.