CNO Discipline

CNO Discipline

The College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) regulates nursing in the province, and its discipline process addresses allegations of professional misconduct and incompetence against registered nurses, registered practical nurses, and nurse practitioners. Serious matters are referred by the College’s complaints committee to its Discipline Committee for a hearing, which can result in a reprimand, conditions on a certificate of registration, suspension, or revocation.

As with physician discipline, nursing discipline is regulatory rather than civil. Its purpose is to protect the public and maintain professional standards, and it does not provide compensation to an injured patient, who must bring a separate civil claim. Because hospitals can be vicariously liable for the nurses they employ, nursing conduct is often relevant to civil litigation as well, and a discipline decision can shed light on the clinical events and on the regulator’s view of the nursing standard of practice.

Posts tagged CNO Discipline analyze nursing discipline decisions in Ontario, including the clinical context and the penalty imposed, and their relationship to civil claims.

Navy title card reading "CNO v Paulson: missed medications, false charting, and a three-month suspension" from paulcahill.ca.

CNO v Paulson: False Charting, Missed Medications, and the Electronic Audit Trail

A registered practical nurse admitted failures across two Guelph hospitals: an admission assessment backdated without notation, medications charted but never given, and a bladder scan reported but not performed. The CNO Discipline Committee accepted a joint submission for a three-month suspension with twelve months of oversight. What the electronic audit trail proved, and where a discipline finding stops short of a civil claim.

July 29, 2026

Case comment on CNO v Coyle, 2025 CanLII 146790 (ON CNO), Discipline Committee of the College of Nurses of Ontario decision imposing permanent undertaking equivalent to revocation on registered nurse who hand-altered the Medication Administration Record of an elderly patient to authorize substantially higher morphine doses, documented administration of doses that were not given, and misappropriated the controlled substance. Patient subsequently died of morphine toxicity from doses administered overnight by an incoming nurse who relied in good faith on the altered order. By Paul Cahill, LSO Certified Specialist in Civil Litigation.

CNO v Coyle: Patient Abuse, Falsified Documentation, and the Permanent Undertaking Framework

Discipline Committee of the College of Nurses of Ontario imposes permanent undertaking on registered nurse who altered morphine records before patient’s death.

February 23, 2026

CNO v Paulson: False Charting, Missed Medications, and the Electronic Audit Trail

CNO v Coyle: Patient Abuse, Falsified Documentation, and the Permanent Undertaking Framework

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