N.L. dentist caught in ‘teaching moment’ when he let officer remove teeth from inmate

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — A dentist in Newfoundland was caught up in a “teaching moment” when he authorized a correctional officer to pull 4 tooth from a sedated inmate in his business office, in accordance to court files.

An agreed statement of info was study Friday in Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court in Gander, N.L., all through a sentencing hearing for the dentist, Dr. Louis Bourget.

Bourget pleaded guilty to assault in September 2023.

The court heard that Bourget reported in a statement that right after he authorized correctional officer Ron McDonald to pull teeth from the mouth of Blair Harris, he recognized he was wrong and experienced “crossed a line.”

McDonald and yet another correctional officer escorted Harris, who was an inmate at Bishop’s Falls Correctional Centre, to an appointment at Bourget’s place of work in Gander in October 2020. According to the agreed assertion of points, McDonald watched about the dentist’s shoulder as he worked on the patient, and was really intrigued in the process.

The courtroom listened to that Bourget began “actively teaching” McDonald, and provided to enable him pull the tooth although the other correctional officer filmed. Bourget presented no concrete reason why he allowed a jail guard to carry out dental work on a individual all the dentist could say was that he was caught up in a educating moment.

The statement of points examine in courtroom Friday also incorporated a description of the video found on the cellphone of the correctional officer who filmed the assault. It confirmed Bourget giving instruction to McDonald on how to use an extraction tool, and handing the software to McDonald, who then applied it to get rid of Harris’s teeth.

McDonald pleaded responsible to assault in September 2023 expenses ended up dropped towards the guard who filmed.

The court docket heard a assertion from Bourget’s dental assistant, who was in the space whilst the work was carried out on Harris. She reported she went into shock when Bourget invited the correctional officer to remove teeth from the inmate, and that she experienced by no means observed the dentist do anything at all like that right before. She claimed she had been a dental assistant for almost two many years and in no way imagined she would be in these kinds of a situation.

The agreed assertion of specifics also involved feedback from a registered nurse in Bourget’s office environment who took Harris’s blood strain and prepared his intravenous line. She stated typically correctional officers leave the place prior to dental perform commences.

Throughout the method, she left for a minute and read Bourget say he would enable a person of the correctional officers pull a tooth. She thought he was joking. But when she returned, she saw the officer eradicating a tooth.

Bourget’s sentencing has been set around right until March.

This report by The Canadian Press was initially published Feb. 2, 2024.

Sarah Smellie, The Canadian Press

Be aware to viewers: This is a corrected tale. The prior model said the inmate’s name is Neil Harris.