Dr. J. Joel Jeffries

The College of Nurses of Ontario brought disciplinary proceedings against the Member for alleged sexual abuse of a patient.

The Member brought a preliminary motion for third-party production of the Complainant's mental health and counselling records, arguing they were relevant to the Complainant's reliability and memory due to his history of bipolar schizoaffective disorder.

Applying the O'Connor test, the Discipline Committee ordered the production of records from one treating psychiatrist for a limited timeframe overlapping with the alleged incident and the Complainant's decision to report it.

The requests for all other counselling and historical mental health records were denied for failing to meet the threshold of likely relevance.

The applicant was injured in a motor vehicle accident and sought income replacement benefits from her insurer.

The insurer denied the benefits, arguing her injuries fell within the Minor Injury Guideline.

The arbitrator found the applicant credible and accepted medical evidence that she suffered from Chronic Pain Syndrome as a result of the accident.

The arbitrator concluded the applicant suffered a substantial inability to perform the essential tasks of her employment for the first 104 weeks, and a complete inability to engage in any suitable employment thereafter.

The applicant was awarded ongoing income replacement benefits and interest on overdue payments.