The regulatory body in charge of dentists in Nova Scotia has suspended the licence of a member facing criminal charges for allegedly allowing corrections officers to perform surgery on an inmate in Newfoundland and Labrador.
In a brief statement published on its website, the Provincial Dental Board of Nova Scotia announced that its complaints committee had met on Thursday and decided to suspend the licence of Dr. Louis Bourget.
Bourget, a dentist whose website lists practices in Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador and New Brunswick, was among three men charged last week by RCMP in N.L. with aggravated assault and assault with a weapon.
The charges stem from an incident that is alleged to have occurred in October 2019, when jail guards Roy Goodyear and Ronald McDonald took an inmate from Bishop’s Falls Correctional Centre in central Newfoundland to a Gander, N.L., dental office for major dental work.
It is alleged that Bourget allowed one of the guards to perform a dental procedure on a sedated patient while the other guard shot a video of the procedure.
Blair Harris, who was an inmate at Bishop’s Falls Correctional Centre at the time of the incident, has since filed a civil suit against Bourget and the two guards.
The allegations have not been tested in court.
Provincial Dental Board of Nova Scotia said it convened its meeting after it was informed last week about the charges by Bourget’s lawyer.
The suspension of Bourget’s licence comes into effect immediately, the notice reads.
Bourget, Goodyear and McDonald are scheduled to appear in provincial court in Gander on April 6.
—With files from The Canadian Press