Estate of woman who died from local anesthetic injected into blood vessel sues Morden dentist, his business, clinic

The estate of a 23-year-old woman who died after receiving a local anesthetic during a wisdom tooth extraction at a Morden dental clinic has filed a lawsuit over her death.

Virginia Blatz never returned home after she went to Boundary Trails Dental Centre to have her wisdom teeth removed on Nov. 27, 2024. An autopsy later confirmed she died from local anesthetic systemic toxicity caused by an inadvertent injection into a blood vessel, her family has previously said.

Her father, Dulaney Blatz, filed a lawsuit in the Court of King’s Bench on behalf of her estate late last month, naming Ronald David Janz — the dentist who performed the procedure — his dental corporation and the dental corporation that operates the clinic as defendants.

None of the defendants have filed statements of defence in response to the claim, which has not yet been heard in court.

The court filing claims Blatz first received an opioid painkiller and a sedative to prepare for the procedure, before Janz administered the local anesthetic at about 9:20 a.m. that morning.

“Commencing at or near (9:24 a.m.) Virginia experienced two brief periods of tonic-clonic (grand mal) seizure activity, following which she ceased breathing with absent pulse,” reads the court filing. “An ambulance was summoned and Virginia was transported to Boundary Trails Health Centre where she was pronounced dead.”

The lawsuit claims the dental care, treatment and management Janz provided to Blatz was administered negligently and either caused or materially contributed to the young woman’s death.

The court papers claim that alleged negligence included injecting the needle into a blood vessel rather than the targeted tissue, failing to pull back on the syringe plunger to check for blood, failing to reposition the needle to ensure it went directly into tissue, using an unacceptably large dose of the anesthetic, failing to inform himself of the drugs’ interactions and lethality and failing to vigilantly watch for early signs of toxicity.

Further, the lawsuit claims, Janz was negligent by failing to be prepared for an emergency, failing to or delaying an antidote therapy, failing to inform Blatz of the risk of the medications, failing to have a dental anesthesiologist administer the drugs and monitor Blatz, failing to offer the extraction procedure in a hospital, delaying summoning paramedics, delaying the administration of oxygen and failing to use critical thinking.

“Janz owed Virginia a duty to act with skill, knowledge and prudence for which he breached,” the court papers say.

The lawsuit also accuses the dental centre of negligence and of causing or contributing to Blatz’s death, including by failing to train and instruct staff, including Janz, properly on various procedures, and by failing to have antidote therapies or readily available oxygen.

The lawsuit seeks a combined total of $120,000 in damages for the woman’s parents, siblings and grandparents under the Fatal Accidents Act, as well as special damages for funeral costs, among others.

The family’s lawyer, Martin Pollock, did not return a phone call Monday.

The family previously raised concerns over the Manitoba Dental Association’s investigation into their daughter’s death, telling the Free Press last month they believe the regulatory agency must be more transparent with the public.

Janz is currently restricted from administering local anesthetic — meaning he can do so only under supervision — and has a restriction on the use of sedation services, according to the association’s registry. He has been a dentist since 2015.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca