Suspension of dentist ends crash case
Dr. Christy Natsis will lose her dentist's licence for six months, receive a formal reprimand and have her professional behaviour and her sobriety monitored for the next 21/2 years as a result of a disciplinary hearing before the Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario on Thursday.
The penalty, jointly submitted by lawyers for the college and Natsis, ends a tortuous, nearly 10-year legal odyssey that began the night of March 31, 2011, when the Pembroke dentist drove drunk on Highway 17. Her vehicle collided head-on with a truck driven by Bryan Casey, killing the 50-yearold, married father of three.
The Natsis trial was one of the longest in Canadian history, dragging on for 55 days spread over three years, and was then followed by a further two-year wait while she unsuccessfully appealed her convictions. Natsis served 14 months of a five-year sentence for impaired driving causing death, dangerous driving causing death and breaching release conditions by buying alcohol.
“I admit,” Natsis said twice at the beginning of Thursday's virtual hearing after Dr. Richard Hunter, chairman of the five-person disciplinary panel, read out the two allegations against her: first that she broke the law, then that she had engaged in “disgraceful, dishonourable, unprofessional or unethical conduct.”
Natsis's conduct that March night “raises very, very serious concerns about the member's regard for the health, the safety and indeed for the lives of those around her, as well as serious concerns about her judgment,” said lawyer Linda Rothstein, who acted as prosecutor for the hearing.
“The criminal convictions reflect on a health professional's ability to practise in the profession. They leave a tarnished perception in the public's mind about the integrity, the fair-mindedness and the judgment of health professionals.”
Natsis's lawyer, Michael Rankin, said the six-month suspension was a harsh penalty and Natsis already had suffered nearly two years of lost income.
Natsis was granted parole in June 2019 and that summer began volunteering with the Ottawa Mission, providing free dental care for homeless and disadvantaged people. Natsis resumed her private dental practice in Pembroke in December 2019 after she was granted full parole.
“Nothing can ever be done to bring back the life of Bryan Casey,” Rankin said. “But the responsibility to address that tragic event was the criminal courts' responsibility. It is not this panel's function to mete out a penalty for the criminal offence. What is at issue for this panel is, `Did this conviction bring the profession into disrepute?' and the corresponding impact that has on public confidence.'”
Natsis is well-regarded by her patients, has never had a complaint made about her practice and has been sober for nearly 10 years, Rankin said. The fatal crash was an opportunity for her to turn her life around and she has done that, he added.
In an unusual move, the panel heard victim-impact statements from Casey's widow, LeeEllen Carroll, and his father, Gus Casey, in England.
“It's been nearly 10 years since Bryan was stolen from us,” Carroll said. “A decade of moving around that black hole, of living with grief, of carrying the burden of the pain and anger of others. It's unrelenting.”
Although the family had endured hearing of the “minutiae” of the crash, the trial, the appeal and the parole hearing, Carroll said she preferred to think about the witnesses and those who helped her husband that night and those who had reached out to offer kindness and support “on our long journey for justice for Bryan.”
She asked the college “to lift the weight from our shoulders and place it where it belongs.”
Natsis's suspension will take effect later next month, giving her time to complete some of her patients' previously scheduled appointments.
She will need to appear before the panel again within 90 days to receive her reprimand. She also must pay the college $7,500 in costs and will be monitored for her compliance with conditions until April 2023.
Natsis was born in Detroit and is not a Canadian citizen, so her criminal conviction means she could be deported. The Canada Border Services Agency was not able to say Thursday if she was facing deportation.
“I think the best thing for everybody is that she lives a law-abiding life so that no one else has to suffer like Bryan Casey's family has,” MADD Canada victim services director Steve Sullivan said. “We hope she can overcome her struggles.”
The family is grateful that the college allowed LeeEllen Carroll and Gus Casey to make their statements — and they're happy the long process is finally over, he said.
“They want her out of their lives.”
I think the best thing for everybody is that she lives a law-abiding life so that no one else has to suffer like Bryan Casey's family has. We hope she can overcome her struggles.