Legal Research

Nip and Tuck Wars Using Courts

By Omar Ha-Redeye

Robert Cribb has a story this morning about the high-profile charges against some Canadian plastic surgeons.

But it also reveals that at least one of the initial complaints against Dr. Behnaz Yazdanfar of the Toronto Cosmetic Clinic were allegedly initiated by the fiancee of a competing surgeon,

Using the name Abby Nash, Hodgson allegedly posed as a patient “for the purpose of filing a spurious claim with the College of Physicians and Surgeons.”

…After her visit to Yazdanfar’s clinic, Hodgson filed a “slanderous” complaint with the college alleging that Yazdanfar “misrepresented her medical accreditation and medical training on the Cosmetic Clinic’s website and was ‘fraudulently promoting herself’ in a ‘dishonest and dangerous matter,’” the statement reads.

The reason? Yazdanfar alleges that Middleton and Hodgson did it to “misappropriate” existing clients of her clinic who were scheduled for cosmetic surgery.

The suit claimed $1 million in damages for financial losses.

In response, Dr. Yazdanfar sent her own spies for her own complaints, even though her case was settled.

The college occasionally uses its own undercover investigators to look into safe practices, but if flooded with complaints based on competition they may be diverted from more serious concerns.  Then again, other physicians may be bringing pertinent information to the college’s attention that they would otherwise have missed.

Should the courts and colleges, charged with protecting the public, be used in this manner by competing commercial interests?

Full post as published by Slaw.ca on June 14, 2009 (boomark / email).