P.E.I. Man Fractures Skull, Loses Ability to Smell

March 22, 2011— -- Ian Ronald Drummond suffered three skull fractures and a broken jaw after literally being thrown out of a Halifax bar, head first, and onto the sidewalk in January of last year.

But that was not even the worst of it. Twenty-three-year-old Drummond now claims that he lost his sense of smell and taste from the incident and is suing owners of a nightclub called the Dome, said Drummond's lawyer, Wayne Bacchus.

"There are huge losses in terms of safety concerns and nostalgia if someone loses their sense of smell and taste," said Bacchus. "Taste and smell give you warnings. Now my client must rely on everything artificially, rather than his senses.

"How do you compensate someone for that?" continued Bacchus.

According to Bacchus, two security staff escorted a calm Drummond to the exit, when a third man grabbed and threw him onto the sidewalk, where he lay until the ambulance arrived.

That third man, Jonathan Lawrence Briggs, pleaded guilty to assault causing bodily harm in February.

Bacchus said that Briggs acted as a de facto bouncer for the club that night, and therefore, the bar should also be held responsible for Drummond's injuries.

"That was something that involved another patron," said Gary Muise, vice president of operations at the Grafton Connor Group, the organization that manages several bars and nightclubs, including the Cheers Burger Emporium and Lounge. "As for our responsibility, we have no further information."

Because of the assault, Drummond said that he has lost his sense of smell and taste. And many experts say that this is an unsurprising side effect of a traumatic brain injury, like a skull fracture.

"Loss of smell, or anosmia, is not uncommon after a traumatic brain injury," said Dr. Robert Stern, co-director of the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy at Boston University School of Medicine. "There are many different types of injuries and conditions that result in loss of smell, most resulting from damage to the olfactory nerve or olfactory bulb."