800 victims of dirty dentist sue for £4m
VICTIMS of a dentist whose appalling standards of hygiene left hundreds of patients fearing they might have caught HIV have begun a £4 million law suit.
Alan Morrison raked in a fortune from two surgeries but was struck off for reusing dirty equipment on patients.
Now 12 of them have lodged papers at Edinburgh Sheriff Court, claiming cash for the distress of having to take blood tests.
If the test cases are successful, hundreds more could claim against Morrison, who operated in the Ayrshire towns of Cumnock and Drongan. It is understood the law firm in the case represents around 800 patients.
Last night, a source said: ‘You can imagine what these people went through, finding out what their dentist had been doing, then having to have the blood tests, and enduring the long wait for results.
‘It was a distressing time for a lot of people, some of them kids.
‘Morrison ignored warnings about his low standards and carried on putting his patients at risk.’
None of the claims is for more than £5,000 but the total payout, combining all the cases, could soar to £4 million, making it one of the biggest mass litigation claims in Scottish history.
NHS Ayrshire and Arran inspectors were tipped off in 2013 and warned Morrison to clean up his act. They returned when a whistleblower said he was still reusing surgical gloves and failing to disinfect equipment from one patient to the next.
Patients on Morrison’s roll were advised to take tests for HIV and hepatitis B and C.
While it is not believed anyone contracted a disease from Morrison’s practices, thousands of his patients had to wait several weeks before being given the all-clear.
The General Dental Council struck him off in 2016, describing his behaviour as ‘woeful’.
He had been banned from practising in 2005 after allowing a prisoner at HMP Kilmarnock to inject another inmate with a sedative – but returned to work a year later.
Morrison, 56, from Mauchline, Ayrshire, declared himself bankrupt in 2016 with debts of £441,000, leaving his insurer, the Medical and Dental Defence Union Scotland, to pick up the tab for any compensation.
All the victims are being represented by Glasgow-based Thompsons Solicitors. Patrick McGuire, a partner at Thompsons, said: ‘I expect court hearings to begin by this autumn.’