Discipline Summary
On February 25, 2016 the Inquiries, Complaints and Reports Committee referred a matter involving Oren Smith to the Discipline Committee for a hearing. The hearing was held on March 17, 2017.
Overview of the allegations:
During the period of 2007 and March 2015, Mr. Smith:
- Invoiced patients under Mr. Smith’s name and registration number for services that were not physiotherapy provided by or under the supervision of a registered physiotherapist,
- Invoiced patients under Mr. Smith’s name and registration number for physiotherapy assessments and reassessments, that were not performed by Mr. Smith and were not performed by registered physiotherapists,
- Invoiced patients under Mr. Smith’s name and registration number for services delivered by persons purportedly acting as physiotherapist support personnel, where Mr. Smith has not assessed, and in some cases had never seen the patient, and/or where the delivery of treatment by a physiotherapist support personnel was not in fact supervised by Mr. Smith or any other registered physiotherapist,
- Assisted a non-member of the profession to hold herself out as a registered member of the College
Finding
At the conclusion of the hearing the panel found that Mr. Smith had committed the following acts of professional misconduct:
- paragraph 1: failed to maintain the standards of practice of the profession;
- paragraph 18: Engaged in conduct or performing an act relevant to the practice of the profession that, having regard to all the circumstances, would reasonably be regarded by members as disgraceful, dishonourable or unprofessional;
- paragraph 22: Directly or indirectly assisted a non-member to hold herself out as a registered member of the College of Physiotherapists of Ontario;
- paragraph 28: Signed or issued a document containing a statement that the member knows or ought to know contains false or misleading statements;
- paragraph 32: submitted an account or charge for services that the Member knows or ought to know is false or misleading.
Penalty
The panel ordered the following penalty:
- a reprimand
- a suspension of 15 months, of which 7 months could be remitted
- practice enhancement activities including the successful complete of an Ethics program
- restrictions related to potential employment as a physiotherapist assistant during the period of suspension
- practice enhancement coaching for a period of no more than two years
- restrictions related supervising physiotherapy students, physiotherapist assistant students and physiotherapy residents
- costs payable to the College in the amount of $10,000