D-3, r. 4 - Code of ethics of dentists

Section 4.02.01 Disposition versions

2012-09-01

4.02.01. In addition to the derogatory acts referred to in sections 57 and 58 of the Professional Code (chapter C-26), the following are derogatory to the dignity of the profession:

(a)  pressing or repeated inducement to make use of his professional services;

(b)  communicating with the plaintiff without the prior written permission of the syndic or his assistant where he is informed of an inquiry into his professional conduct or competence or whenever a complaint has been served on him;

(c)  neglecting to inform the Order if he has reason to believe that a dentist is incompetent or departing from the professional code of ethics;

(d)  providing a receipt or any other document falsely indicating that services were rendered;

(e)  claiming fees for professional acts not performed or falsely described;

(f)  claiming a sum of money from a patient for a professional service or part of a professional service whose cost is assumed by a third party;

(g)  contributing to the illegal practice of dentistry or collaborating with a person so engaged;

(h)  giving any person for any reason a false certificate of ill health or any other document containing untrue or unverified information;

(i)  dispensing or claiming to dispense secret remedies or treatments;

(j)  directly or indirectly guaranteeing the effectiveness of a treatment;

(k)  seeking to obtain or obtaining either a commission or a direct or indirect rebate for the prescription of medication, examinations, tests, treatments or the manufacturing of dental equipment;

(l)  requiring, accepting or offering money or any other benefit for contributing or having contributed to the adoption of any proceeding or decision of the board of directors of the Order or one of its agencies or one of their members;

(m)  taking advantage, in the practice of his profession, of the inexperience, ignorance, naïveté or bad state of health of his patient;

(n)  refraining from completing an act of dental surgery and giving this responsibility, either immediately or at a later date, to a person other than a dentist;

(o)  refraining from advising a patient or a person legally responsible for him of an abnormality, deficiency or pathological condition he has discovered;

(p)  making abusive use of narcotics, controlled drugs, psychotropic substances including alcohol or any other product which may affect his faculties during the exercise of his functions;

(q)  giving or prescribing to a patient, without justification, narcotics, controlled drugs, psychotropic substances including alcohol or any other similar product;

(r)  advertising or allowing to advertise in his name the promotion or sale of products or services by any audio-visual means and written or verbal advertisements;

(s)  failing to take the necessary measures to ensure that his patients receive the required or urgent post-operative care;

(t)  practising in states liable to jeopardize the quality of his professional services and the dignity of the profession;

(u)  giving permission or allowing a person other than a dentist to perform acts which must only be performed by a dentist;

(v)  changing the fees generally charged by the dentist solely because the patient has an insurance plan;

(w)  refusing to provide a receipt to any patient requesting a receipt for fees paid;

(x)  exercising his professional activities within a limited liability partnership or a joint-stock company, or having interests in such an entity with a person who, to the dentist’s knowledge, performs acts that compromise the dignity of the dental profession;

(y)  exercising his professional activities within a limited liability partnership or a joint-stock company, or having interests in such an entity, when a partner, shareholder, director, officer, or employee of such limited liability partnership or joint-stock company has been stricken off the roll for more than 3 months or whose permit has been revoked, except insofar as the partner, shareholder, director, officer, or employee:

i.  ceases to act, in the performance of his duties, as a director or officer within the limited liability partnership or joint-stock company within 10 days of the date on which the mandatory striking off or revocation of permit has become effective;

ii.  ceases, if applicable, to attend any meeting of shareholders and to exercise his right to vote within 10 days of the date on which the mandatory striking off or revocation of permit has become effective;

iii.  disposes of his voting shares or turns them over to a trustee within 10 days of the date on which the mandatory striking off or revocation of permit has become effective.

R.R.Q., 1981, c. D-3, r. 4, s. 4.02.01; O.C. 1360-94, s. 2; O.C. 499-2008, s. 8.