Dialogue Volume 15 Issue 1 2019 | Page 63

DISCIPLINE SUMMARIES DR. PIERRE PICARD PRACTICE LOCATION: Hamilton AREA OF PRACTICE: Neurology HEARING INFORMATION: Plea of No Contest; State- ment of Uncontested Facts; Joint Submission on Penalty On October 9, 2018, the Discipline Committee found that Dr. Picard committed an act of profes- sional misconduct, in that he has engaged in sexual abuse of 10 patients; in that he has engaged in con- duct or an act or omission relevant to the practice of medicine that, having regard to all the circumstances, would reasonably be regarded by members as dis- graceful, dishonourable or unprofessional; in that he has failed to maintain the standard of practice of the profession; and in that he has been found guilty of an offence relevant to his suitability to pratise medicine. At the material time, Dr. Picard treated patients in a private office four days a week in Hamilton, On- tario, and at the ambulatory care clinic at a hospital one day a week. In the uncontested facts before the Committee, it was set out that Dr. Picard engaged in sexual abuse, including by: engaging in sexual intercourse with Patients E, I and J, masturbating Patients C, F, G, H, and I, touching the breasts and buttocks of Patient A and touching the breasts of Patient B and Patient D. In addition, Dr. Picard was convicted of sexually assaulting Patients H and I, and was found to have engaged in professional misconduct based on this criminal finding. Dr. Picard also engaged in disgraceful, dishon- ourable and unprofessional conduct for failing to comply with the Out-of-Hospital Premises Inspec- tion Program regulations and standards, by failing to notify the College that he was operating a premise to perform nerve blocks. A subsequent section 75(1)(a) investigation dem- onstrated that he failed to maintain the standard of practice in respect of patient care in 25 charts. His practice exposed his patients to the risk of infection, nerve injury, local anesthetic toxicity and increased risk of substance dependence through his inappro- priate opioid prescribing. His poor record keeping, his failure to document his procedures, and failure to implement the recommendations for the safe and effective use of opioids and narcotics put his patients at significant risk of harm. ORDER The Committee ordered: the revocation of Dr. Picard’s certificate of registration and a reprimand. The Committee also ordered that Dr. Picard reim- burse the College for funding provided to patients under the program required under section 85.7 of the Code, by posting an irrevocable letter of credit or other security acceptable to the College in the amount of $160,600.00. Dr. Picard was ordered to pay to the College its hearing costs in the amount of $10,180.00. 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, counsel for Dr. Picard waived Dr. Picard’s right to an appeal and the Com- mittee administered the public reprimand in Dr. Picard’s absence. DR. WILLIAM ANDREW ROY PRACTICE LOCATION: Toronto AREA OF PRACTICE: General Practice HEARING INFORMATION: Admission; Agreed Statement of Facts; Contested Penalty On September 27, 2018, the Discipline Committee found that Dr. Roy committed an act of professional misconduct, in that he has engaged in conduct or an act or omission relevant to the practice of medicine that, having regard to all the circumstances, would reasonably be regarded by members as disgraceful, dishonourable or unprofessional. The College received information from the Narcot- ics Monitoring System (NMS) identifying Dr. Roy as having prescribed, in 2015, eight or more patients at least 650 oral morphine equivalents (OMEs) per ISSUE 1, 2019 DIALOGUE 63