Dale Bass – Kamloops This Week
A disciplinary hearing into the actions of Kamloops dentist Dr. Bobby Rishiraj — who is being investigated for inappropriate use of anesthesia that led to an 18-year-old Kamloops girl with brain damage — will continue in January.
After three days of hearings in Vancouver last week, a panel of the discipline committee of the College of Dental Surgeons of B.C. will reconvene on Jan. 26, with hearings scheduled to run until Jan. 30.
Last week, the panel heard of the case that left the teenager brain-damaged, one of 23 instances cited when deep-sedation or general-anesthetic services were done at the Kamloops Oral Surgery Implant Centre.
The hearing heard the teen, who was having four wisdom teeth removed, went into cardiac arrest during the procedure. When paramedics arrived about five minutes later, there was a period of pulse-less activity.
The teen was in Royal Inland Hospital for months and is now permanently brain-damaged.
The 23 incidents cited run from Oct. 4, 2012, to Nov. 7, 2012.
Anita Wilks, senior manager of communications for the College of Dental Surgeons of B.C., said Rishiraj “has changed his practice to ensure the safety of the public and the College is confident no other patients are at risk.”
Jerome Marburg, registrar and CEO of the College, said that, after the Nov. 7 incident with the teen, the college inspected the clinic and Rishiraj made changes, including employing additional medical staff.
The College is holding the hearing into allegations Rishiraj broke the professional body’s bylaws by:
• using the anesthetic procedures, although the clinic and Rishiraj himself were not approved to do so;
• failing to recognize the cardiac arrest in a timely way and, as a result, resuscitative measures were delayed;
• advertising his clinic online as “an approved non-hospital and certified IV facility,” when such was not true.
• not having the required training to use propofol, a sedation anesthesia drug that has been linked to the deaths of comedian Joan Rivers and musician Michael Jackson;
• failing to monitor adequately sedated patients during surgery.
A ruling is not expected until the spring and, if it is rendered against Rishiraj, there will be a penalty hearing levied afterwards.
A message on the contact phone number for Rishiraj’s office, at 474 Columbia St., said it is closed until Monday, Nov. 17.
Rishiraj grew up in Vavenby and for a short time practised dentistry in Clearwater.
