LAWYERS FOR DENTISTS

Are you the target of a complaint to the Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario (‘RCDSO”)? If so, our team of knowledgeable and skilled dentist defence lawyers can assist you. Posner Craig Stein defends dentists at proceedings before the Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario. Complaint and discipline proceedings can be tiring, anxiety-provoking, and have significant impacts on your reputation and finances. Entrusting our team of professional regulations lawyers with your case ensures that you have a capable and professional advocate at your side to navigate difficult proceedings. Our lawyers work tirelessly, creatively, and in a relentless manner to protect you. We also have a wide network of expert witnesses who work with us throughout the discipline process.

The legal services we provide for dentists include assistance during an investigation or audit by the Royal College. The earlier a dentist retains quality defence counsel, the better an opportunity there is to protect your interests, reputation, licenses, and business. In an audit, we will work in concert with you and our experts to ensure that you are well prepared and that your records are in the state they should be. In an investigation, we will interview witnesses and work to uncover any documentation that might assist in demonstrating your innocence before the investigator. We may also have an opportunity to prepare and file written submissions with the investigator in an effort to complete your matter at the investigatory stage.

There also may be an opportunity to advocate to resolve a complaint by participating in the College’s alternative dispute resolution. This process provides the dentist with an opportunity to mediate the complaint outside of the formal complaints process.

The ICRC screens complaints on behalf of the Royal College of Dentists of Ontario. It had a broad discretion to deal with complaints. The ICRC can refer a complaint to the Discipline Committee for a full hearing, or it can dismiss the complaint entirely. It can also order a dentist to attend before it for a caution, and can mandate a dentist to take a course, known as a specialized continuing remediation and education program (“SCERP”). The ICRC can take any other action it deems appropriate. A caution or a SCERP will result in the details of the complain being publish on the Royal College’s online register. This can cause reputational damage even though the complaint does not proceed to the Discipline Committee.

Dentist defence lawyers at Posner Craig Stein are well-equipped to assist at this critical stage of the complaint proceedings. A dentist has the opportunity to file written submissions with the ICRC. We have the skill and expertise to draft elegant, cogent, and persuasive submissions to convince the panel to dismiss the complaint. Your reputation, finances, and time can be protected by addressing the complaint at this stage of the proceedings.

A dentist before the Discipline Committee has a much broader spectrum of procedural rights than at the ICRC. Consequently, a hearing involves witnesses testifying under oath, and the cross-examination of those witnesses. It is also possible to call defence evidence. Oral and/or written submissions are presented before the panel. Our team of dentist defence lawyers have extensive experience in these areas, developed over decades of experience in courtrooms and tribunals across Ontario.

A carefully orchestrated and targeted cross-examination can lead to the dismissal of the complaint against you. Our extensive preparation and experience to adapt to a witness’ responses in the midst of questioning generates excellent results. PCS dentist defence lawyers will marshal these skills on your behalf.

If you lost your case at the ICRC or at the Discipline Committee, you may still appeal that decision.  An appeal to the Health Professions Appeal and Review Board involves a close examination of the record of the proceedings before the ICRC or Discipline Committee to identify legal errors that can serve as grounds of appeal. Written arguments and oral argument are then made before a panel.

Our dentist defence lawyers bring their experience and skill to litigate your case. We will review the record of proceedings with microscopic scrutiny to ensure that all grounds of appeals are developed. Our trial and appellate experience is substantial and gives us the ability to properly examine a record and develop powerful arguments on appeal.

Arguments at the HPARB are advanced in writing, and our written advocacy is second to none, and has been honed over many years preparing written argument at all levels of court.

A decision of the HPARB is not necessarily final. A dentist can have the decisions of the College reviewed judicially by judges of the Divisional Court of Ontario. As with hearings before this HPARB, this requires a careful review of the record below, the preparation and filing of written legal argument, and the presentation of oral argument before a panel of judges. Our dentist defence lawyers have substantial experience in these areas, and have a strong record of success. We will leave no stone unturned in pursuing your appeal to ensure that your reputation, license, and finances remain intact.

If a judicial review before the Divisional Court is not successful, a dentist may still be able to appeal his or her matter to the Court of Appeal for Ontario. Such cases require an order granting leave to appeal. An application for leave to appeal involves the preparation of written argument. If leave is granted, the appeal itself involves written and oral argument before a panel of three judges at the Court. Posner Craig Stein has extensive experience appearing before the Court of Appeal, and we will represent your interests persuasively.

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Posner Craig Stein is the right firm to assist you with investigations, audits, complaints and hearings. Our team of dentist defence lawyers will advocate for your interests with sophistication and diligence.

If you are a dentist and have been the subject of a complaint or believe that you may be the subject of a complaint, before the Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario it is advisable to retain counsel as soon as possible. Posner Craig Stein can assist you.

Come meet with us for a confidential consultation at our office or virtually.