Regulated Health Professions Act

The Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991 (RHPA) is the overarching Ontario statute that governs the self-regulating health professions, including medicine and nursing. Together with the profession-specific Acts and the Health Professions Procedural Code that forms a schedule to it, the RHPA establishes the colleges, defines professional misconduct and incompetence, and sets out the investigation, complaints, and discipline machinery that protects the public.

The RHPA framework is regulatory. It exists to govern the professions and protect patients, and it operates separately from the civil justice system, which is where an injured patient seeks compensation. Understanding the RHPA structure helps explain why a College complaint, a discipline hearing, and a medical malpractice action are distinct processes that can arise from the same clinical events but lead to very different outcomes.

Posts tagged Regulated Health Professions Act analyze Ontario decisions and disciplinary matters arising under the RHPA framework and their relationship to civil claims.

Navy title card reading "Micallef v Distasio: Laser burns, ordinary negligence, and no expert report" from paulcahill.ca. Case comment on Micallef v Distasio, 2026 CanLII 87468 (ON SCSM), a $50,000 Small Claims Court award for laser hair removal burns proven without expert standard-of-care evidence. By Paul Cahill, LSO Certified Specialist in Civil Litigation.

Micallef v Distasio: Laser Burns, Ordinary Negligence, and a $50,000 Small Claims Judgment

A self-represented plaintiff recovered the full $50,000 Small Claims Court limit for burns and permanent pigmentation loss from a laser hair removal treatment, without an expert report on the standard of care. The Court reached that result by applying Ayana v Skin Klinic, the 2009 decision establishing that laser hair removal is not a medical procedure in Ontario. The defence bet that no plaintiff expert meant no case, and lost.

August 26, 2026

Case comment on CPSO v Kilian, 2024 ONPSDT 23, on the PHIPA custodian-subject distinction, the Charter section 8 framework, and the "ungovernable physician" doctrine in COVID-era discipline. By Paul Cahill, LSO Certified Specialist in Civil Litigation.

CPSO v Kilian: Physician Custodians and the Duty to Produce Patient Records

An Ontario tribunal ruled physicians have no Charter privacy interest in their patients’ records. Subsequent proceedings produced a 12-month suspension.

October 17, 2024

Case comment on College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario v Luchkiw, 2023 ONPSDT 14, on the duty of regulated health professionals to cooperate with a College investigation. By Paul Cahill, LSO Certified Specialist in Civil Litigation.

CPSO v Luchkiw: The Duty to Cooperate with a College Investigation

A family physician refused to cooperate with multiple CPSO investigations during the pandemic. The OPSDT held that the refusal was itself professional misconduct.

July 10, 2023

Regulated Health Professions Act

Micallef v Distasio: Laser Burns, Ordinary Negligence, and a $50,000 Small Claims Judgment

CPSO v Kilian: Physician Custodians and the Duty to Produce Patient Records

CPSO v Luchkiw: The Duty to Cooperate with a College Investigation

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Talk to Paul directly.