Dentist denies responsibility for four-year-old’s brain injury

An Edmonton dentist at the centre of a $26-million lawsuit has filed documents with the court denying responsibility for any brain injuries sustained by a four-year-old girl who received dental work under general anesthesia in his office last year.

In a joint statement of defence filed March 9, dentist William R. Mather and dental assistant Kim Kandora-Couvreur reject that they were negligent or breached any duty of care toward patient Amber Athwal.

“The (tooth) extractions and administration of anesthesia were of a routine nature and the extractions proceeded without complication,” the statement says. “Dr. Mather and Kim provided timely, proper, compassionate and appropriate care.”

If any negligence was at play, the statement says, the girl’s parents “are guilty of a substantial degree of contributory negligence” for failing to disclose accurate information on Amber’s medical history or her food consumption in the hours before the dental procedure.

Since Mather and Kandora-Couvreur provided proper care, any injuries suffered by the girl were at least partly caused by a pre-existing medical or dental condition, or negligence from other staff in the office, the statement says.

The statement of claim filed by Amber’s family on Feb. 10 names several defendants — Mather, Kandora-Couvreur, registered nurse Tasneem Ali, an unnamed dentist and five unnamed female staff members.

Ali has filed her own statement of defence maintaining that her care of Amber was “at all times reasonable, skilful, careful and proper.”

None of the allegations cited in the statement of claim or statements of defence have been proven in court.

The court action stems from an incident at Mather’s downtown dentalofficethatoccurredonSept.7 last year.

According to the statement of claim, Athwal and her family had an appointment at Mather’s office that morning for what they believed was only a preliminary examination and consultation. Instead, Mather told them he could perform Amber’s procedure later that morning due to a last-minute cancellation.

The statement says Mather asked if Amber had eaten that day — a factor in how medical sedation is handled — and was told she had consumed bread and milk.

Amber was then put under general anesthesia and the hour-long procedure was finished just before noon.

The lawsuit alleges that around 12:15 p.m., Amber was in recovery when Ali noticed she was not breathing and did not have a heartbeat.

The statement says KandoraCouvreur did not call Emergency Medical Services until approximately 12:30 p.m. and that none of the defendants were making any efforts to provide proper ventilation for Amber at the time paramedics arrived.

The girl suffered a brain injury due to lack of oxygen.