V. White

The applicant, a physician, sought judicial review of the decision of the Registrar of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario to appoint investigators to investigate his practice.

The investigations arose from resolutions of the Quality Assurance Committee and a patient complaint.

The applicant refused to comply and raised constitutional and procedural fairness issues.

The Divisional Court dismissed the application for judicial review on the grounds of prematurity, holding that administrative proceedings should run their full course before judicial intervention, absent exceptional circumstances.

The applicant professional regulatory body issued a summons to the respondent police chief for the production of a Crown brief related to criminal charges against a physician.

The respondent refused to comply, arguing that the screening process from D.P. v. Wagg applied.

On a stated case, the Divisional Court held that the public interest principles identified in Wagg apply to a summons issued by the regulatory body.

While the specific civil screening process is not strictly required, the lack of notice to the Attorney General and an opportunity to raise public interest concerns constitutes a lawful excuse for refusing to comply with the summons.

The applicant, a physician previously disciplined for professional misconduct, brought an application for judicial review challenging a College by-law regarding the public availability of disciplinary information.

In this motion, the applicant sought an interim order banning the publication of his name and allowing him to use initials in the court record.

The court dismissed the motion, noting that the disciplinary information had been public for over 13 years and there was no risk to the administration of justice or need to protect societal values of superordinate importance that would justify an exception to the open court principle.