Winnipeg MD names health authority, doctors in lawsuit alleging he was fired after reporting fatal misdiagnosis

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This article was published 19/04/2023 (911 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg doctor has alleged he was fired by the Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority after he reported another doctor’s misdiagnosis he claims led to a patient’s death.

In a statement of claim filed in the Court of King’s Bench earlier this month, Dr. Pardeep Bhanot alleged the health authority terminated his contract in August 2017 in retaliation for his report of the critical incident earlier that year.

Bhanot alleged he was examining a patient in an Interlake health facility in June 2017 when he discovered the patient had been misdiagnosed with pneumonia, when X-rays “patently showed” fibrosis in the lungs, or damaged and thickened lung tissue.

The suit names the health authority and two physicians it employs — who were allegedly involved in the incident — as defendants. No statements of defence have been filed and the health authority would not comment Tuesday.

Bhanot claims that he reported the misdiagnosis to his superior, one of the doctors also named as a defendant in the suit.

Reporting such critical incidents is required under provincial legislation and was a duty under his employment contract, Bhanot said. He had been working for the health authority under a service contract since 2014.

The suit claims the superior did not take action, and the patient’s health continued to decline, so Bhanot took it to up the chain to the doctor in charge of human-resources issues.

That doctor “failed to declare the critical incident as an official ‘critical incident,’” the suit said.

According to Bhanot’s suit, the misdiagnosis eventually led to the patient’s death, though no further details were included in the legal documents.

Bhanot claims that as a response to his report of the incident, and at the direction of the two doctors, Interlake-Eastern terminated his service contract without warning or just cause that August.

Bhanot is seeking damages for breach of contract and duty of good faith, or damages against the two doctors for allegedly inducing the breach of contract, as well as general and special damages to be determined by the court.

He alleges the two doctors intentionally interfered in his contract, violating provincial legislation, to unlawfully conceal their own misconduct.

In the claim, Bhanot said he successfully got new full-time work after the contract was severed, but at a significantly lower salary. He is seeking compensation for the difference, as well as for other losses and expenses he incurred while looking for work.

He said in the claim he has suffered stress, mental distress, anxiety, frustration, embarrassment and a loss of enjoyment of life as a result of the incident.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @erik_pindera