REPORTS
from Council
Council proposes posting findings of guilt,
certain bail conditions on public register
A
This is a brief overview
of the discussions and
decisions made at the
September Council
meeting.
s part of the College’s
Transparency Initiative,
Council is consulting on
proposed by-laws that would make
available on the public register
members’ criminal findings, findings of offences under the Health
Insurance Act and certain bail
conditions.
In a related decision on the same
initiative, Council directed that information about non-members who
are practising illegally in Ontario be
posted on the College website.
The proposed by-law requiring
that we post findings of Criminal
Code offences and findings of offences under the Ontario Health
Insurance Act would apply to
findings of guilt made against a
person after he or she has become
a member, and then, only those
findings that are made after June
1, 2015. The by-law requires posting a brief summary of the finding; the sentence; a notation where
the matter is under appeal; and the
pertinent dates, where known to
the College.
The bail conditions that the draft
by-law addresses are current conditions which would affect a physician’s right to practise medicine in
an unrestricted way.
An additional step in posting
certain bail conditions is developing a mechanism for gathering the
information. If the by-law is passed,
the College will add a question to
the annual renewal form that asks
whether the member currently has
any terms of release relating to any
criminal or Health Insurance Act
charges, or appeal therefrom, that
relate to the member’s practice.
In addition, it was proposed that
the General By-Law be amended
to require members to notify the
College as soon as possible after any
bail restrictions that relate to the
member’s practice are imposed or
varied.
A proposed by-law amendment
to protect information that is under
a publication ban was also considered prudent and is now also part
of the consultation.
In the case of non-members
practising illegally, Council directed
that the College post court orders
obtained against non-members as
well as some of the documentation
that has been filed in court applications. Agreements with non-members who agree to cease using the
title “Dr.” will also be posted.
Please read the proposed by-law
amendments on page 21 and on
our website at www.cpso.on.ca and
provide your feedback.
DIALOGUE • Issue 3, 2014
11