Elyse Sunshine

The College of Dental Hygienists of Ontario held an uncontested discipline hearing regarding a registrant who admitted to engaging in a concurrent sexual and treating relationship with a patient from 2016 to 2018.

The Discipline Committee found that the conduct constituted sexual abuse of a patient and professional misconduct.

Accepting a joint submission on penalty, the Committee ordered the immediate revocation of the registrant's certificate of registration, an oral reprimand, reimbursement for any patient therapy funding, and $2,000 in costs.

The College of Dental Hygienists of Ontario brought professional misconduct allegations against a registrant for failing to comply with an order to complete a specified continuing education or remediation program and failing to cooperate with a College investigator.

The registrant did not attend the hearing.

The Discipline Committee found the registrant guilty of professional misconduct, concluding she was ungovernable.

The Committee ordered the immediate revocation of her certificate of registration and required her to pay $9,500 in costs.

Following a request for clarification and further submissions respecting costs in relation to an initial disciplinary hearing, the Court of Appeal ordered that the costs for that hearing be reserved to the Tribunal presiding over the re-hearing.

The parties made written submissions regarding costs following an appeal.

The Court of Appeal determined that costs should be awarded on a partial indemnity scale rather than an elevated scale.

The court awarded the respondent a total of $61,000 in costs, which included amounts for proceedings before the professional discipline appeal panel, the lower court stay motion, the lower court appeal, and the appellate proceedings, after setting off a previous costs award in favour of the appellant.

The Law Society and the respondent lawyer brought separate appeals from a Divisional Court decision that set aside a Law Society Appeal Panel's order upholding a finding of professional misconduct and disbarment.

The Divisional Court had remitted the matter to a new hearing panel due to breaches of natural justice.

The Court of Appeal dismissed both appeals.

It held that the Hearing Panel breached natural justice by refusing a brief adjournment to allow the lawyer to be represented by counsel, and by proceeding immediately to the penalty phase without adequate notice.

The Court also upheld the Divisional Court's refusal to stay the proceedings for undue delay, binding the new hearing panel to the original findings on delay up to the start of the first hearing.

The applicant physician sought judicial review of an interim order made by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario restricting her cosmetic surgery practice pending a disciplinary hearing.

The order was issued after investigations into patient complaints, including one patient death following a liposuction procedure.

The Divisional Court dismissed the application, finding that the College's decision was reasonable, supported by ample evidence of risk to patient safety, and did not demonstrate a reasonable apprehension of bias.

The appellant lawyer appealed a decision of the Law Society Appeal Panel upholding a Hearing Panel's finding of professional misconduct and order for disbarment.

The appellant argued that the proceedings should have been stayed for delay, and that the Hearing Panel breached natural justice by refusing an adjournment and proceeding to the penalty phase without adequate notice.

The Divisional Court held that the decision not to stay for delay was reasonable.

However, the court found that the Hearing Panel breached natural justice by refusing a brief adjournment when the appellant's counsel had a scheduling conflict, forcing the appellant to proceed unrepresented.

The court also found a clear breach of natural justice in proceeding to the penalty phase with less than 24 hours' notice.

The findings of misconduct and penalty were set aside, and a new hearing was ordered.

The appellant brought a motion to stay the execution of his disbarment by the Law Society of Upper Canada pending his appeal to the Divisional Court.

The appellant argued that he was denied procedural fairness when the Law Society refused an adjournment and proceeded with the hearing in the absence of his newly retained counsel.

The court found that there was a serious issue to be tried regarding procedural fairness, that the appellant would suffer irreparable harm if disbarred before the appeal, and that the balance of convenience favoured a stay.

The motion for a stay was granted.

The applicants sought judicial review of a decision by the General Manager of OHIP refusing to pay medical accounts submitted more than six months after services were rendered.

The applicants argued that the delay, caused by the incompetence of their office manager, constituted 'extenuating circumstances' under the Health Insurance Act.

The Divisional Court applied the reasonableness standard of review and upheld the General Manager's decision, finding it reasonable to distinguish between catastrophic events beyond a physician's control and administrative or operational errors within their control.