Investigations
Public member Ms. Lynne Cram and Dr. Anil Chopra, a Toronto emergency department physician, are members of the Inquiries, Complaints and Reports Committee.
Investigations
When the College receives information that raises possible concerns with a physician’ s care or behaviour, we act quickly to investigate such concerns.
There are three areas of a doctor’ s practice that our investigations process covers – the three C’ s:
• Care
• Conduct, and
• Capacity
Care is all about the clinical interactions with a doctor.
Conduct speaks to a doctor’ s behaviour while delivering care.
Capacity speaks to a doctor’ s ability to deliver care. Examples of incapacity may relate to substance abuse, physical illness, or mental illness.
Once we’ ve gathered all the relevant information, a complaint gets reviewed by our Inquiries, Complaints and Reports Committee – or ICRC. The ICRC is comprised of both doctors and members of the public. The Committee oversees public complaint investigations, broader practice( Registrar’ s) investigations, and inquiries into a member’ s incapacity.
Registrar’ s investigations and incapacity investigations remain small in numbers proportional to public complaints. They are, however, often more intricate than most patient-related complaints. Registrar’ s investigations include review of generally 25 patient charts by an external assessor, interviews, and often observation. Incapacity investigations include various types of external health assessments, interviews, and review of records.
PHOTO: CLAUDIA HUNG
24 COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF ONTARIO