By Staff
July 1st, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
Gazette readers have been clamoring for someone to start up a Class Action law suit against the Upper Middle Road dentist who was shut down by the Halton Region health authorities for using medical equipment that was said not to have been properly cleaned or sterilized.
A Toronto based law firm of Flaherty McCarthy LLP announced today that they have commenced a Class Proceeding against Dr. Vivek (Vick) Handa and Upper Middle Dental seeking $10 million in damages on behalf of their patients.
The allegations against the defendants, said the lawyers in their media release. have not yet been proven in Court, but there remains a very real and substantial risk of immediate and irreparable harm to Class Members if they do not take steps to contact their physician to discuss testing for hepatitis B, hepatitis C and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
Upper Middle dental was closed by Regional Health officials but allowed to open several days later.
“Patients trust their dentists to use properly cleaned and sterilized tools. Upper Middle Dental and Dr. Handa have completely breached their trust. As a result, these patients and their family members face the prospect of having infectious diseases, and must undergo lengthy and invasive testing,” says Sean A. Brown of Flaherty McCarthy LLP.”
“We intend to seek the assistance of the Court so that the defendants will compensate these patients and their family members for this egregious breach.”
For more information, contact: Candace Mak; Flaherty McCarthy LLP. Candace is at cmak@fmlaw.ca and is anxiously awaiting your email.
What is a little surprising is that none of the larger Burlington or Hamilton legal firms took this on.
This clinic has always been safe and clean. The instruments were always sterlized, on that particular day not packaged thats all. If there was a major problem, they would have been shut down permanently. The doctor is very competent and knows his stuff. All our family members have only had good experience with him and our tests came out perfect. Nobody has been diagnosed with anything.
Their done!
The charges haven’t been proven yet, so I don’t know if this applies to these people, but it’s almost unimaginable in Canada today that you would find a professional Dr. of dentistry who doesn’t understand the utmost importance of sterilization. That importance was understood a 100 years ago. It would boggle the mind if were true.