As many as 18,000 Ontario patients are entitled to share a $27.5-million settlement of a class-action lawsuit, the largest ever against a doctor in Canada.
The settlement will pay patients who were given electroencephalograms (EEGs) at one of six clinics operated by Ronald H. Wilson between January, 1990, and March, 1996, Michael Head, a lawyer for one of the plaintiffs, said yesterday.
Mr. Head said Dr. Wilson agreed to the settlement of the case in Ontario Superior Court after testing equipment used by his clinics was found to have infected many patients with hepatitis B, a potentially debilitating liver disease.
The link to needles that were improperly sterilized at Dr. Wilson's clinics was made when researchers used DNA testing to trace a large hepatitis outbreak.
Dr. Wilson, who continues to practise in Toronto, was not available for comment yesterday. He faces a disciplinary hearing before the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons next year.
The case was filed in 1996 against Dr. Wilson and his technologist, Nicholas Kyprianou, after hundreds of the clinic's patients tested positive for hepatitis B. The infection rate among Dr. Wilson's patients was 600 times the rate in the general Ontario population.
Robert Anderson of Pickering, who five years ago filed the first suit in what became the class action, said yesterday he is happy to see the settlement. But it could be more than a year before he knows how much he will receive.
Patients who want a share of the settlement must fill out a questionnaire that ranks the extent of their illness and how much time they lost from work.
"The most important thing will be whether you are a carrier of the infection," said Mr. Anderson.
A buyer of electronics parts, he was found by the researchers to have been infected by an EEG in 1993. He said the symptoms of hepatitis B can resemble the flu and he and many other victims learned about their infections only after they were notified by health boards in 1996 that they should be tested.
Dr. Wilson's clinics were in North York and Scarborough in Toronto and in the suburban regions of York and Durham.
The DNA tests conducted in the investigation at the University of Toronto traced the infections to a technician who had active hepatitis B and handled the equipment without wearing gloves.
Since the problem was discovered, EEGs that use needles have been banned for use in Ontario. Electrodes for the common test of brain function are now glued to the head, rather than being inserted into the scalp.
The payment will be made by a company insuring Dr. Wilson against malpractice.
Mr. Head said lawyers for the doctor agreed in October to have a mediator appointed to settle the case. The final amount is what the mediators believe will be enough to compensate those who were infected. The amount includes a $1.2-million claim filed by OHIP to cover treatments.
Initially, every one of Dr. Wilson's EEG patients who received notification that they needed to be tested will be entitled to a cheque for $750, said Mr. Head, a partner with the firm Walker, Head in Pickering, Ont. That could include as many as 18,000 people.
Further payments will be made depending on the severity of infection or injury, Mr. Head said. If only a few people file the questionnaires, the payments for each will be higher than if many people file claims, he said.
Hepatitis B is passed by direct blood contact and, while most people recover, the infection can cause a form of cirrhosis that damages the liver's function.
The payments are subject to approval at an Ontario Superior Court hearing to be held in Barrie Jan. 2.