In a last-minute effort to delay imprisonment, a Calgary dentist was sentenced to three years in jail for a decade-long insurance fraud scheme. Alena Smadych, who had previously admitted to defrauding five insurance companies of almost $700,000, saw her plea for a sentencing extension rejected by Justice Gord Wong. Despite claims of worsening back pain, the court dismissed the request citing dated medical letters and Smadych’s choice of non-invasive pain management methods.
The prosecution argued for a two- to three-year prison term, while the defense proposed a two-year conditional sentence allowing Smadych to serve her time at home under specified conditions. The judge highlighted the severity of Smadych’s offenses, noting that she continued her fraudulent activities even after becoming aware of the investigation.
During her ownership of All About Family Dental, a clinic renowned for its high billing rates, Smadych admitted to fabricating over $684,000 in billings from 2013 to 2023. The fraudulent practices were uncovered in 2021 by Sun Life, which detected irregular billing patterns such as repeated root canals and fillings. The court also learned about inflated billings at year-end and discrepancies between actual dental work performed and the billing claims submitted to insurance companies.
Following her guilty plea, Smadych confessed to submitting fake claims totaling over $125,000 to Sun Life and Blue Cross. Subsequent investigations revealed an additional $558,000 in fraudulent billings to other insurers. Despite attempts to shift blame onto others, including her receptionist and the new clinic owner, Smadych struggled to fully acknowledge her responsibility for the fraudulent activities. She is no longer practicing as a dentist in Alberta and has expressed interest in pursuing dentistry in Australia.
This sentencing marks a continuation of Smadych’s history of fraudulent behavior, as she was previously convicted in 2007 for a similar offense related to a false return scheme at Home Depot.