Foot specialist loses licence for using own implant on patients
Chiropodist ‘experimented’ on clients with a stent unapproved by Health Canada, watchdog says
An Ottawa-based foot specialist had his licence revoked after he admitted to treating clients with an implant he manufactured, which wasn’t approved by Health Canada and which was used without the clients’ full knowledge or consent.
The College of Chiropodists of Ontario has identified 25 people who were treated with Pierre Dupont’s foot stent — an implant used to treat flat feet or fallen arches — between 2014 and 2016, as opposed to the Health Canada-approved stent known as HyProCure.
The college also found that before procedures, clients signed a consent form that indicated the HyProCure stent would be inserted, when in fact Dupont implanted his own stent during surgery.
He was also found to have failed to keep an adequate record of the procedures from initial examinations to post-op station visits.
This was the second time Dupont had his licence revoked. In 2004, he had a disciplinary hearing in front of the provincial body that regulates dentists, which found he had failed to meet the standards of care.
At his disciplinary hearing Tuesday afternoon, Dupont, 60, admitted to several counts of professional misconduct and apologized to the patients and the college for his actions.
“It was inconsistent with my own belief that all patients should be treated professionally and with respect,” Dupont told the hearing. “You have a right to be angry.”
According to the records filed at the hearing, Dupont didn’t believe he needed to get Health Canada approval for his stent because “the nature, composition and design was the same,” and he didn’t have an intention to sell his stent to other healthcare professionals.
Clients at the hearing made impact statements to the board to illustrate the negative effects of Dupont’s stent on their day-to-day lives.
Erika Brathwaite, who initially came forward with her case to the CBC, told the college how Dupont’s stent has completely changed her life, putting a strain on her finances, her physical movement and her mental health. She will soon undergo major bone and tendon surgery on her foot.
“This experience with Pierre Dupont has impacted my life catastrophically, has left me uncertain of my future, has seen me sacrifice my anonymity,” said Brathwaite. “Ultimately, I just want to get my foot fixed so I can have the happy, active life I had before.”
Other clients echoed similar complaints. George Morrison, who flew in from Nova Scotia for the hearing, will need two more expensive surgeries to get the implants replaced.
“All my days start with a ‘Calculation of the agony for the chronic ankle pain,’ ” Morrison told the college. “Daily activities revolve around how much ankle pain I can tolerate.”
The college concluded that Dupont’s conduct was “disgraceful, dishonourable and unprofessional,” and violated many provincial health regulations as well as the Food and Drugs Act.
In addition to revoking his licence to practise chiropody in Ontario, the college fined Dupont $30,000 and gave him an oral reprimand, the details of which will be part of the pub-
“This experience with Pierre Dupont has impacted my life catastrophically, has left me uncertain of my future.” ERIKA BRATHWAITE FORMER PATIENT
lic register and the public record.
“You have brought discredit to yourself and the college,” said the board member reading the decision. “You have put the profession in jeopardy.”
The college’s counsel, Jordan Glick, said that this was a unique case because “he preyed on vulnerable patients and experimented on them without their knowledge.”
Dupont was previously a dentist for 10 years in Quebec, where several patients made complaints against him. 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.
Dupont graduated from the podiatry program at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières and made attempts to legally practise podiatry in Quebec — a move challenged by that province’s College of Podiatrists.
Dupont later moved to Ottawa and was given a certificate of registration to practise by the College of Chiropodists.
Dupont did not speak to the media on Tuesday, but in 2016, he 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.” His lawyer Megan Savard made clear in the hearing that the college is not pursuing a finding of incompetence against Dupont, and any allegations of physical harm heard in the impact statements had not been tested or commented on by experts.
Dupont has agreed to pay a portion of the costs of the college’s investigation into this matter, Savard said.
“This is evidence that he is truly remorseful and understands the seriousness of his misconduct,” she said.
Savard read statements on behalf of Dupont’s friends, family and colleagues that said he was “a caring man, a thoughtful practitioner” and “that he cares about the people in his life.”
“He may have to start over in a new line of work at an age most people retire,” she said.