Parents in dark about daughter’s death two years later

The parents of a 23-year-old southwestern Manitoba woman who died after receiving a local anesthetic during a wisdom tooth extraction say they are in the dark about the investigation into their daughter’s death.

Dulaney and Victoria Blatz say the Manitoba Dental Association has been unwilling to give them information about the probe into their daughter’s death, saying the self-governing regulatory body must be more transparent with the public.

“We have pushed through various channels trying to get information, but it’s nothing but stalling and sidelining,” Victoria said Friday. “This has crashed our world to pieces and we just want answers.”

Virginia Blatz went to Boundary Trails Dental Centre in Morden on Nov. 27, 2024, to have her wisdom teeth removed, but never returned home.

An autopsy confirmed she died from local anesthetic systemic toxicity caused by an inadvertent injection into a blood vessel.

Victoria dropped her daughter off at the dentist’s office that morning and received a call to return to the office a short time later. When she arrived, the office had been cleared out and an employee took her to a room to ask her some questions, but Victoria cut the conversation short and went to find her daughter.

“What I found was an absolute nightmare. Absolute nightmare,” she said.

Virginia was receiving emergency medical treatment after having several seizures. She died after being taken to hospital.

Since that day, her parents have sought information about the incident to no avail. They were told by the association they are not entitled to information about the investigation because of regulations in the province’s Dental Association Act. The association’s registrar, not the family, is considered the complainant in the case against the dentist.

“It’s bad enough losing a daughter, and then for the people that I feel are responsible for it, they should at least help,” Dulaney said.

“This has crashed our world to pieces and we just want answers.”

Dr. Ronald Janz, the dentist who treated Virginia, continues to practice. The dental association’s website notes Janz has several restrictions on his practice, including a restriction on administration of local anesthetic and a restriction on the use of sedation services.

Janz has been a dentist since 2015.

The Blatzes were told Janz’s practice has been “heavily limited or subjected to strict and constant supervision” since the tragedy.

“The sanctions that have been put against him are so inadequate,” Victoria said. “We want assurance that other patients are protected. We don’t want other families having to go through this or made to feel this way.”

The chief executive officer of the Manitoba Dental Association said Thursday in an email to the Free Press there was “nothing to report” on the investigation into Virginia’s death. Rafi Mohammed and the association’s registrar, Arun Misra, did not respond to follow-up requests to explain the investigation process or whether the association would report its findings.

Unlike other regulatory bodies, such as the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba and the College of Pharmacists of Manitoba, the dental association does not publish its investigations, reports or disciplinary actions.

Alberta, B.C., New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan’s regulatory bodies all publish disciplinary decisions for those in the dental profession found guilty of wrongdoing.

“We want assurance that other patients are protected. We don’t want other families having to go through this or made to feel this way.”

A professor of ethics said the lack of transparency should outrage the public.

“They have a responsibility, an obligation, to treat the public with respect, which means providing the public with information when things go seriously wrong,” said Arthur Schafer, the founding director of the Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics at the University of Manitoba. “This is a failure of accountability.”

“The public is entitled to know what kind of disciplinary action the profession has imposed in order to protect the public,” he said.

In its 2025 annual report, former president Jeffrey Hein wrote the association “continues to experience increased public scrutiny,” and the board of directors had prioritized “transparency, accountability, and alignment with the public interest.”

The Blatzes filed a complaint with the association against Janz in June in an attempt to have information made available to them but have received little correspondence. They are now considering legal action against the regulatory body.

“Some people go away eventually. We don’t,” Victoria said.

Virginia was a healthy 23-year-old who had just gotten a new job as a welder, her parents said. She was saving up money to buy her own hobby farm near Lowe Farm, where she lived.

“This is a failure of accountability.”

A provincial spokesperson said the province does not insert itself into dentistry investigations. When a death occurs in a private facility, the province’s medical examiner can refer the file to police if there is suspected criminal negligence, or it can be referred to the appropriate college of the health-care provider.

— with files from Scott Billeck

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca