DISCIPLINE SUMMARIES
phoned Dr. Clowater on August 22, 2011, leaving
a voicemail reminding her that her membership fee
had not been paid. Dr. Clowater responded on Au-
gust 24, 2011, advising she would fax the credit card
information again. On August 29, 2011, Dr. Clowa-
ter’s husband advised that the credit card payment
form would be faxed August 31, 2011. Despite these
efforts, payment information was never received.
The College phoned Dr. Clowater on September 2
and 6, 2011 but there was no answer and no ability
to leave a voice mail. There was no suggestion that
Dr. Clowater’s husband acted without her author-
ity. There is no explanation offered in the record as
to why these promises were made and not fulfilled.
Indeed, in her email of September 6, 2011, Dr.
Clowater acknowledged that she was fully aware of
the deadline for impending suspension and offered a
lack of funds and a family death as excuses. Accord-
ingly, based on the facts before the Committee, the
Committee infers that these promises of payment
were made with knowledge that they would not be
complied with.
Given the above, the Committee concluded that
Dr. Clowater knowingly and intentionally disregard-
ed her professional duty to pay her annual member-
ship dues to the College. Furthermore, the Com-
mittee concluded Dr. Clowater was deceptive when
she informed the College that she was forwarding
payment when in fact she did not do so.
Dr. Clowater was clearly notified of her suspension
and that she was no longer authorized to practise
medicine in Ontario as of 12:01 a.m. September 7,
2011 in a Notice of Suspension sent by email and by
letter. The Notice of Suspension further noted that
Dr. Clowater’s billings to OHIP during her suspen-
sion would be rejected and would not be recoverable.
Indeed, Dr. Clowater did not submit bills to OHIP
during the time she was suspended, which reinforces
the conclusion that she had an understanding of
her suspension. The measures required to have her
certificate reinstated were set out in writing and she
was informed that she must not resume practise until
the College had advised that her that her certificate
of registration has been issued. Dr. Clowater paid her
membership fees September 19, 2011 and applied for
reinstatement.
On September 28, 2011, the College informed Dr.
Clowater by email that she was still not authorized to
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DIALOGUE ISSUE 3, 2017
practise medicine in Ontario. In that email, the Col-
lege asked Dr. Clowater to confirm in writing that
she had not been practising since September 7, 2011.
Dr. Clowater replied by email that she had not been
practising since September 7, 2011. However, she
sent a further email the next day where she admitted
that she had, in fact, been practising from Septem-
ber 15 to 28, 2011. In explanation, Dr. Clowater
offered a somewhat confusing story that this was a
“terrible misunderstanding.” She indicated that she
or her husband communicated with the College on
September 14, 2011 and was advised that it could
take 24 to 48 hours for her payment to be processed.
Dr. Clowater stated that she took from this that she
could resume practise after September 15, 2011.
The Committee did not find this to be a reasonable
assumption given the College’s explicit direction that
Dr. Clowater was not to resume practise until she ap-
plied for and was issued a new certificate of registra-
tion. Furthermore, as of September 14, 2011, Dr.
Clowater’s membership payment had not yet been
received by the College.
Dr. Clowater’s certificate of registration was rein-
stated October 7, 2011.
Dr. Clowater’s alleged confusion regarding her
suspension came to the forefront again in her January
26, 2012 response to the College, in which she said
that she was unaware that her certificate of registra-
tion had been suspended until she was notified by
the secretary at the Children’s Treatment Centre in
Chatham on September 9, 2011. Dr. Clowater fur-
ther wrote that payment was faxed that day but she
thought the problem may be that the fax machine
was disconnected for the entire week. These claims
makes no sense