Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog
Methadone usage in Ontario has undergone a massive structural expansion over the last few decades, turning what was once a highly restricted clinical treatment into a widespread, community-based pillar (for good or for worse) of public health.
Ontario had only 60 methadone-prescribing physicians and 1,595 patients in 1996. By 2014, the number of active patients grew 30-fold to 49,703. Between 2014 and 2022, a provincial cohort study recorded 137,035. The high concentration of methadone clinics and patients in Ontario is the result of a deliberate provincial policy in Ontario over the span of 30+ years to shift addiction treatment out of hospitals and directly into communities and neighborhoods. If there is a methadone clinic in your neighborhood, it was deliberately put there for one reason or another; likely in order to increase access.
Under the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP), clinics operate on a fee-for-service basis. Doctors can bill the province for frequent, mandatory patient visits (often weekly or bi-weekly) and regular urine drug screenings. Because methadone must be taken daily under direct pharmacist supervision (especially early in treatment), pharmacies earn a continuous, predictable stream of dispensing fees. This economic structure incentivized private companies to open specialized “one-stop-shop” clinics (where a doctor’s office sits directly next to a specialized pharmacy) in high-traffic, accessible strip malls. It created a lucrative private/public business model where for profit clinics have emerged.
When high volume meets a drive for profit, we tend to see errors and lapses of quality control. This isn’t good for any business or service; particularly one which dispenses methadone to people in need. Taking too much methadone can make people very sick, or worse, it can be lethal. Unfortunately, at Goldfinger Injury Lawyers, we see dispensing errors from methadone clinics happen all too frequently.
Truth be told, we didn’t really see many of these types of methadone dispensing error cases 20 years ago. That was because methadone clinics weren’t as widespread, and there were fewer people prescribed with taking methadone. By 2026-27, methadone clinics are abundant in Ontario (sadly), and the number of people has seen a sharp uptick (sadly as well).
Recognizing a dispensing error case can be as clear as day. It won’t take a rocket scientist to know that a person who was prescribed with 10ml of Methadone; but was dispensed with 150ml of Methadone has been wronged; and will likely have been made very sick or worse. The pharmacist will be alerted to their mistake very quickly as well. This will either come from another pharmacist, or from the hospital or a public health unit. The person who ingested the Methadone will be rushed to the hospital, or injected with Naloxone (from an injection kit likely on site at the Methadone Clinic). The person might be in hospital for hours, or for days. It depends on the person and how the methadone overdose affected their system. That person may also have residual symptoms which are short lasting, or long lasting. Again, it depends on the person and the way that their system reacted to the overdose.
When these dispensing errors happens, there’s a clear breach of trust, and a lack of quality control. Having handled many of these cases over the years, we can say that we have never seen a pharmacist who has intentionally dispensed the wrong dosage. The pharmacist doesn’t intend to cause another person harm, or want them to die. These are honest mistakes which can be, and which ought to be avoided. They’re caused because a person isn’t giving proper attention to small details; like missing a decimal or reading the wrong patient chart. Often the pharmacist is working at a very busy clinic on limited rest so they’re not 100% at their best. This is what happens at high volume clinics which are profit driven. We also see honest mistakes caused by inexperienced pharmacists, or pharmacist assistants who are unsupervised or not properly supervised. Experience matters when you are dispensing a highly potent drug which has the potential to make someone very sick or kill them.
One of the hardest things for our clients is having their trust breached by the pharmacy. Often they’ve been attending that very pharmacy for many years and they’ve grown to like the people behind the desk and the routine of going to that pharmacy for their dosage. After the dispensing error, they feel like they can’t go back. They’re embarrassed, they feel anger, resentment, or they simply can’t trust the people at the pharmacy anymore because of what took place. Sometimes, finding a new clinic or pharmacy isn’t possible because the next closest pharmacy or clinic is too far away and they have no other viable options.
Will it harm a Plaintiff’s case if they have to revisit/re-attend the pharmacy which was responsible for the dispensing error? Re-attending the pharmacy can be uncomfortable and rather awkward. Sometimes the Plaintiff has no other viable options. It’s up to the Plaintiff with respect to what they want to do. But, don’t expect much sympathy from a Judge or insurer if the Plaintiff makes the argument that they can never trust that person/pharmacy again, yet they continue to attend at the pharmacy week after week for their regular dosage or prescriptions.
The last part of dispensing error cases which we would like to address is the role of the Ontario College of Pharmacists vs. the role of the personal injury lawyer in these cases. Your personal injury lawyer will help you get the compensation which you deserve as a result of the dispensing error for your damages. After a complaint is made to the College of Pharmacists of Ontario; the College will investigate whether or not a wrong was committed and will discipline the pharmacist/pharmacy accordingly. It’s their role to protect the public and to regulate pharmacists so that these sort of things don’t happen again. The College of Pharmacists cannot award a Plaintiff compensation for his/her injuries from the dispensing error. The College of Pharmacists can discipline, reprimand or take away the offending pharmacist’s license. The College has investigatory powers which personal injury lawyers don’t have. When the College makes a demand, the Pharmacist must answer to those demands or face disciplinary action.
