DISCIPLINE SUMMARIES
psychiatrist with an established practice in Ontario
since 1991. Physicians may only charge patients for
services that are not covered in the OHIP Schedule
of Benefits for Physician Services under the Health
Insurance Act, 1990.
Psychotherapy provided by a psychiatrist is a
covered service and extra billing is not allowed. If
the excessive fees as outlined in the expert report
had been block fees, the Committee agrees with
the expert opinion that it is hard to imagine what
uninsured services could have been that costly. It is
clear to the Committee that Dr. Chadda was billing
these patients extra for insured services. In addition
to this conduct being disgraceful, dishonourable, and
unprofessional, it also posed a risk of compromising
patient access to care. In addition, the two patient
complaints and the s.75a investigation revealed that
this was a widely repeated practice of Dr. Chadda’s,
specifically charging a supplemental fee for patient
appointments.
Timely Receipts and Record Transfer
It is unclear to the Committee why it took seven
weeks for Dr. Chadda to transfer Patient A’s records
to her new psychiatrist. It is clear, however, that this
was unprofessional and placed her patient at risk of
substandard care as the new physician may have been
lacking vital information for appropriate treatment.
Patient B was only a patient of Dr. Chadda’s for a
few months. She, too, was charged additional fees.
However, she did not receive receipts. She should
have received receipts for her payments at the time of
service. There is no justification for withholding re-
ceipts upon request. In addition to providing medi-
cal services to patients, it is a physician’s responsibil-
ity to provide timely administrative functions such as
record transfer and receipt for payments.
ORDER
The Discipline Committee ordered: a six-month
suspension; terms, conditions and limitations on
Dr. Chadda’s certificate of registration which include
completion of an ethics course; and monitoring
of her billing practices for a period of 12 months.
Dr. Chadda was also ordered to pay hearing costs of
$6,000.
For complete details of the Order, 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. Chadda waived
her right to an appeal and the Committee administered
the public reprimand.
DR. ALLEN PHILLIP DENYS
PRACTICE LOCATION: Windsor
AREA OF PRACTICE: Respirology, Sleep Medicine
HEARING INFORMATION: Agreed Statement of Facts and
Admission; Joint Submission on Penalty
On May 13, 2019, the Discipline Committee found
that Dr. Denys committed an act of professional mis-
conduct in that, he failed to maintain the standard of
practice of the profession in his care of patients; and
he engaged in acts or omissions relevant to the prac-
tice of medicine that would be regarded by members
as disgraceful, dishonourable or unprofessional.
Failure to Maintain the Standard of Practice
The College retained a respirologist who practises
both sleep medicine and respirology to opine on Dr.
Denys’ care and treatment of patients at the Windsor
Sleep Disorders Clinic. The expert conducted a re-
view of 50 patient charts of patients from the Wind-
sor Sleep Disorders Clinic, along with those patients’
OHIP data, and interviewed Dr. Denys.
The expert noted that in almost every chart re-
viewed, patients were booked for a pulmonary func-
tion test immediately upon referral to the Windsor
Sleep Disorders Clinic. He opined that there was no
clinical indication for such testing evident on the
face of the referral nor had the patient been evaluated
in person by Dr. Denys. In addition, although rou-
tine pulmonary function tests were booked on almost
all patients, the expert opined that the results of such
testing were not addressed in the consultation reports
to the referring physicians nor were abnormalities
identified or treatments recommended.
In addition, the expert opined that there were other
significant areas of concern with Dr. Denys’ sleep
ISSUE 3, 2019 DIALOGUE
55