Corporate dentistry
This summer, the General Dental Council (GDC) is planning to launch a list of corporate bodies "carrying on the business of dentistry". This follows the removal of restrictions on the number of dental bodies corporate (DBCs).
Publication date: 1 August 2007
All corporate bodies will be expected to provide information to the GDC and make an annual declaration. The GDC has the power to specify what information is required.
The GDC has also indicated that corporate directors will be expected to consider the issue of indemnity. It said: “All GDC registrants are required to have professional indemnity. Independent legal and professional advice should be sought to ensure that dental bodies corporate have adequate indemnity and are protected against claims.”1
Traditionally claims for clinical negligence have been made directly against individual healthcare professionals, who have arranged their own indemnity. However, where the dentist or dental care professional is employed by a company, it is possible that a claim may be made against the company itself instead of, or, more likely, as well as, the individuals involved in treating the patient as in this fictional example:
A recently qualified dentist is employed by a dental company. He treats a patient who complains of intermittent pain coming from his lower right first molar, aggravated by hot and cold. At the request of the dentist, a dental nurse employed by the company takes, processes and mounts a periapical radiograph of the lower right molars, which is not of diagnostic quality. Despite the inadequate radiograph, and without any additional special tests, the dentist removes the existing restoration and dresses the tooth. Several months later the patient attends as an emergency, complaining that he is now in intolerable pain from the same area. A new radiograph reveals a large carious lesion in the mesial surface of the neighbouring lower right seven, involving the pulp, and periapical radiolucencies on both roots, necessitating root canal treatment and a crown.
Shortly afterwards, the dentist receives a letter from the patient’s solicitor making a claim for clinical negligence, alleging a failure to diagnose and treat the caries in the lower right second molar. The directors of the dental company also receive notification of a claim for negligence, alleging a failure to properly supervise both employees, and a failure to ensure the dental nurse had the necessary training and experience to take and process radiographs of diagnostic quality. 2
Such a scenario may arise because the legal position for a dental company differs to that of a partnership or a sole trader working with or employing other dentists. In a true partnership each partner is jointly and severally liable for the acts or omissions of all the partners while they are engaged in the partnership’s affairs. Individual partners can be sued, but the partnership itself does not exist as a legal entity and cannot. By contrast, a company is a separate entity and may be liable to be sued for negligence, breach of contractual duty or failure to meet its agreed commitments. For this reason, it’s advisable for dental professionals who are considering forming a limited company to ensure it is properly indemnified in its own interests, as well as checking the indemnity status of its employees.
In response to this potential need, the Medical Defence Union, the DDU’s parent organisation, has developed a Corporate Indemnity solution which offers corporate clinical indemnity insurance and corporate MDU membership, alongside individual insurance cover for individual dental professionals via individual MDU membership.
For further information, contact us on 020 7202 1570 or complete an enquiry form.
Further information
- Corporate bodies and the business of dentistry, Frequently asked questions, February 2007
- The case mentioned is fictitious, but based on cases from the DDU’s files. Dentists with specific concerns are advised to contact their dental defence organisation for dento-legal and risk management advice.
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