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N.L. dentist who allowed jail guard to pull teeth from sedated inmate pleads guilty

Sep 19, 2023 | 12:26 PM

GANDER, N.L. — A dentist who allowed a Newfoundland and Labrador corrections officer to extract teeth from a sedated inmate has pleaded guilty to assault.

The Supreme Court clerk’s office says Dr. Louis Bourget pleaded guilty on Monday in Gander, N.L.

Ron McDonald, the guard who removed the teeth, also pleaded guilty at the courthouse to assault.

In December, the Newfoundland and Labrador Dental Board tribunal suspended Bourget’s licence for six months in relation to the Oct. 16, 2020, incident at his office in Gander.

The inmate was being held at Bishop’s Falls Correctional Centre, in central Newfoundland, and was taken to Bourget’s office, where the dentist allowed the guard to perform the procedure while another guard filmed.

Charges were dropped against the guard who had filmed the procedure. 

The case is scheduled to return to court on Feb. 2.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2023.

The Canadian Press