Suspension is a disciplinary penalty that temporarily prohibits a regulated health professional from practising for a defined period. It sits between conditions or restrictions on a certificate of registration and the most serious penalty of revocation, and a discipline tribunal may impose it following a finding of professional misconduct or incompetence.
A suspension is a public-protection measure, recorded on the public register, rather than a form of compensation to a patient, who must pursue any damages through a separate civil claim. Tribunals often combine a suspension with other terms, such as remediation, supervision, or ongoing conditions, and the length reflects the seriousness of the conduct, the risk to the public, and any mitigating or aggravating features, including whether the matter was resolved by a joint submission on penalty.
Posts tagged Suspension analyze Ontario discipline decisions in which a physician’s or other professional’s certificate of registration was suspended, including the conduct and the penalty imposed.
Hamilton Spectator coverage of Dr. Stefan Konasiewicz, whose six-month suspension could end in August. Paul Cahill comments on why a patient death led the discipline tribunal to remediation rather than revocation, and where a College proceeding ends and a civil claim begins.
A family physician was suspended for three months after failing to complete a patient’s insurance forms, release another patient’s records to their lawyer, and cooperate with the College’s investigation. A look at why unreturned records are treated as misconduct, and what discipline does and does not do for an injured patient.
A neurosurgeon practising pain medicine was suspended for six months after the tribunal found his chronic pain care fell below the standard of practice, his treatment of a patient who died after nerve blocks was deficient, and he breached a College order restricting his injections. A look at why a patient death led to remediation rather than revocation, and where the discipline process ends and a civil claim begins.
An Ontario tribunal ruled physicians have no Charter privacy interest in their patients’ records. Subsequent proceedings produced a 12-month suspension.
The OPSDT released two penalty decisions in January 2024 in COVID-19 misinformation cases. One physician received a six-month suspension. The other was found ungovernable and had his licence revoked.
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