DISCIPLINE SUMMARIES
restricting Dr. Heymans to only practising medicine
in facilities designated as Retirement Homes and/
or Long-Term Care Homes; limiting Dr. Heymans
to engaging in direct patient care for no more than
30 hours per week; requiring Dr. Heymans to only
engage in professional encounters with patients while
in continuous and direct observation of a Monitor
who is a regulated health professional and employed
at the facility where Dr. Heymans is employed. Dr.
Heymans shall also maintain a Log of all Patient
Encounters with patients and ensure that the Moni-
tor initials each entry on the Log for each patient.
Dr. Heymans is also required to submit an annual
report to the College prepared by his sleep disorder
specialist or his family physician regarding his sleep
disorder.
For complete details, please see the full decision at
www.cpso.on.ca. Select Find a Doctor and enter the
doctor’s name.
At the conclusion of the hearing, Dr. Heymans waived
his right to an appeal and the Committee administered
the public reprimand.
DR. STEPHEN CHARLES HUEBEL
PRACTICE LOCATION: Scarborough
AREA OF PRACTICE: Emergency Medicine
HEARING INFORMATION: Admission; Agreed State-
ment of Facts; Joint Submission on Penalty
On June 7, 2018, the Discipline Committee found
that Dr. Huebel has committed an act of professional
misconduct, in that he failed to maintain the stan-
dard of practice of the profession.
Dr. Huebel is an emergency room physician who
admitted he failed to maintain the standard of prac-
tice of the profession in respect of a patient com-
plaint, as well as a six cases in a re-assessment that
was carried out under the terms of a 2015 Discipline
Committee order. The College’s expert reached the
following conclusion:
poor documentation is not up to the standard expected
of emergency medicine practitioners. As well as with
respect to the assessment and management of cardiac,
trauma, psychiatric and toxicological patients, he dis-
plays a lack of knowledge and judgment. This combina-
tion has the potential to cause harm to his patients.
In its decision, the Discipline Committee stated
that “the clinical conditions of those seven patients
are neither rare, nor unique in emergency depart-
ments. Emergency department physicians should be
very familiar with the proper management of such
matters as chest pain, trauma from motor vehicle
accidents, head trauma from a fall in the elderly, and
diabetic ketoacidosis. Dr. Huebel’s management of
Patient A with diabetic ketoacidosis led the Com-
mittee to be particularly concerned about his lack of
basic clinical acumen.
ORDER
The Committee ordered: a three-month suspension
on Dr. Huebel’s certificate of registration; a repri-
mand; and specific terms, conditions and limitations
on Dr. Huebel’s certificate of registration. Dr. Huebel
was also ordered to pay to the College its hearing
costs in the amount of $10,180.00
The terms, conditions and limitations imposed on
Dr. Huebel’s certificate of registration include: not
engaging in the practice of medicine as the Most Re-
sponsible Physician for any patient; only practising
as a surgical assistant; and not providing any pre-op-
erative or post-operative care whatsoever; and having
a qualified surgeon always in attendance when Dr.
Huebel is engaging in practice as a surgical assistant.
For complete details, please see the full decision at
www.cpso.on.ca. Select Find a Doctor and enter the
doctor’s name.
At the conclusion of the hearing, Dr. Huebel waived his
right to an appeal and the Committee administered the
public reprimand.
It is my opinion that Dr. Huebel does not meet the
standard of care expected of a competent physician prac-
tising emergency medicine in the majority of cases. His
ISSUE 1, 2019 DIALOGUE
51