A multi-million dollar lawsuit has been filed in the GTA after a patient allegedly contracted Hepatitis C at a local clinic.
This week, Toronto-based law firm Diamond and Diamond Lawyers announced that a $5 million lawsuit was filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on behalf of a Burlington resident.
The incident, according to the news release, took place in Sept. 2023, when the plaintiff, Darwin Allen, attended the Halton Family Health Centre due to a cut on his ankle, where he was then subject to an alleged unsterile needle during treatment by a physician on staff.
In 2025, two years after the incident, Allen received a letter from Halton Region Public Health, notifying him of unsanitary practices conducted on clinic premises, promptly advising him to undergo testing for Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and HIV.
Shortly after a round of tests, Allan confirmed positive for Hepatitis C.
“Even if he [Allen] was the only person impacted by this, we would have taken on this case, but we know that multiple people have been impacted. We don’t know exactly how many people are involved, or if other clinics were impacted. As I understand, this doctor is no longer at this clinic, but he may turn up somewhere else,” Darryl Singer, Allen’s representative with Diamond and Diamond, told INsauga.com.
The physician at Halton Family Health Centre, Dr. Timothy Salter, is also named in the lawsuit and faces allegations of negligence, vicarious liability, and breach of fiduciary duty.
Singer went on to note that, in his 30 years as a litigator, cases like this are surprisingly common yet seldom discussed, posing a risk to public safety.
Concerning the GTA as a whole, medical negligence, according to Singer, is also becoming a prevalent issue.
“You know, in this case, it was a clinic full of MDs, but these kinds of incidents go all the way down to cosmetic procedure clinics to everything in between physiotherapy clinics — there’s a shocking amount of negligence going on,” says Singer.
What separates this case from what normally slides across Singer’s desk, according to him, is that it started with official correspondence from Halton Region Public Health, leading to a lawsuit built on a firm paper trail.
According to Siger, medical malpractice lawsuits are often filed by a client after an incident where they feel they have endured a significant dereliction of duty. With a firm foundation to build on — and damages suffered by Allen — Singer is confident that this case can shed light on medical malpractice in the GTA and its frequency.
“He [Allen] is snow facing down the barrel of, I mean, forget physical, but also immense psychological impact of what he has to go through,” says Singer.
According to Health Canada, serious symptoms of Hep C include jaundice, fluid build-up in the abdomen, chronic pain, and blood in bodily fluids, to name some. Out of the list of Health Canada-approved treatments for Hep C, which can be regimens as long as six months, side effects of treatment can include insomnia, anemia, and birth defects.
Due to the potential physical risks, as well as psychological distress, Singer was not shy to mention that they both played a significant role in the current $5 million price tag attached to the lawsuit.
Beyond that, even with treatment, there is a five per cent risk that Hep C remains incurable and can develop into a chronic condition.
“I mean, there is a five per cent chance that he doesn’t get cured, he has to deal with that. When we first talked to him, the psychological impact was front and centre. When he spoke with us, he was concerned, saying things like, ‘How do I tell people? What next? Am I going to die young?’ — sheer terror is the phrase I would use,” says Singer.
In terms of any outside correspondence from Halton Region Public Health or the defendant(s), Singer noted that the initial letter urging testing is the only physical evidence (next to the positive test result) that they have received.
However, Singer noted that other individuals in connection with potential exposure have been taken on as clients with Diamond and Diamond within recent weeks.
Singer has been contacted by a legal team representing Halton Family Health Centre regarding Allen’s case and is awaiting further instructions to proceed with the lawsuit.
A prospect that, according to Singer, will likely take a long time.
“We could talk about the prominent delays in the civil justice system until the cows come home,” says Singer.
In its current standing, the case has been moved into the hands of the legal team and the insurance company representing Halton Family Health Centre, and it can be a matter of weeks until any correspondence is sent back indicating they want to put in an official statement of defence.
INsauga.com reached out to Halton Family Health Centre to inquire about the current status of proceedings, but at the time of publication, they have yet to respond.
“Even if they move forward with a statement of defence, that then goes to mediation, which, in that case, would then take several years,” says Singer. “If they were to come forward to consider settling the case early on to avoid taking the train down the litigation track, I still wouldn’t settle tomorrow,” says Singer.
Singer reiterates that any concrete settlement would be moot until Allen has received full rounds of treatment and has had a formal assessment by doctors as to what his condition will be moving forward.
As for the current stasis of this case and what comes next, Singer only hopes that other clinics in the GTA take note of the ongoing situation, to avoid more potential victims, stating, “There is nothing my client could have done to mitigate this situation. A medical clinic, full of MDs, there’s no reason he should have thought anything other than that they would be following the right protocols.”
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