2023-08-14 04:00:00
A former Terrebonne dentist stripped of her professional order will find herself behind bars because she continues to practice her profession despite court orders.
Josée Gaudet, who had been a dentist in Terrebonne for thirty years, has not been able to practice since last December since she had notably hindered the work of the investigators of her professional order.
Since then, however, she has continued to see patients in her clinic. The Order of Dentists of Quebec has even applied to the Superior Court on several occasions to obtain injunctions prohibiting it from practicing dentistry.
“I’m not comfortable quitting,” she admitted to a judge during a hearing last spring.
Former dentist Josée Gaudet will have to stay in prison because she has continued to practice despite court orders
Taken from the Facebook page of the Josée Gaudet Dental Clinic
Josée Gaudet was found guilty of contempt of court, since she was not present at her clinic when a bailiff had to come and collect all her exercise instruments last May. A judge had ordered her to hand them over to ensure she stopped seeing patients.
The former dentist will therefore have to spend seven days behind bars and do 20 hours of community service, judge Pierre Nollet ordered last Monday.
She may, however, ask at any time to go to a judge in order to comply with the order or find an arrangement, which will allow her to get out of prison.
On the door of her clinic, Josée Gaudet posted a long notice dated July 24 stating that she is “not retired or in cessation of practice”.
“Throughout the legal proceedings, whether before the Discipline Committee, the Court of Quebec or the Superior Court, Ms. Gaudet displays complete contempt for the authorities, her professional order and the judicial system,” said Judge Nollet. .
Many folders
The former dentist was sentenced for the first time in December 2021 to three months of radiation for having notably hindered the work of the inspector of the Order of Dentists of Quebec by not giving him the file of a former patient, as he was asking. She also threatened a former employee and this ex-patient with reprisals.
“I will not participate in the spectacle that you seem to reserve for such a beloved and dedicated professional in the dental industry,” she had notably sent to the complainants.
Then, M.me Gaudet was once more struck off last December, this time for a period of 12 months.
For more than a year, she had not responded to the request of two patients who wanted a copy of their files. She was also convicted of obstructing the work of the Office of the Syndic of the Order.
“There [a] no place for this kind of behavior and […] those who are tempted to act in the same way may be severely punished”, indicated the Disciplinary Council in its decision in May.
A trial took place last April regarding two other contempt of court cases. The decision has not yet been rendered.
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