Sherwood Park doctor suspended
Rarely used legislation allows college to take action prior to disciplinary hearing
A Sherwood Park family doctor has been banned from practising medicine indefinitely due to a “multitude” of concerns including issues around prescribing and quality of care, Alberta’s College of Physicians and Surgeons announced Friday.
Dr. Vincenzo Visconti, who operates the Brentwood Medical WalkIn Clinic, will no longer be allowed to see patients or practise medicine in any respect after April 27 when his licence suspension takes effect.
The college said it took the tough action through a rarely used section of the Health Professions Act, which allows a doctor to be suspended prior to any disciplinary hearing.
“We rarely ever do this. This is a unique case. We don’t take it lightly, but it’s certainly something we do only when we have concerns about public safety,” college registrar Dr. Scott McLeod told reporters.
McLeod then clarified there was no “acute risk” to Visconti’s patients.
“But continued poor performance is something that would be a concern to us,” he said. “We believe the care (patients) are going to get under another physician will be better care.”
He said other physicians in the area have stepped up and offered to take on Visconti’s patients.
Court records show Visconti was charged on March 9 with two counts of fraud over $5,000. The charges allege he defrauded the Alberta government once in 2015, and again in 2016.
His next court appearance is scheduled for May 23.
The college’s decision to suspend Visconti was not specifically related to the criminal charges, but had more to do with long-standing, ongoing concerns about the physician’s practice, McLeod said.
At least some of the current concerns are similar to issues that were the subject of a past disciplinary action, he said.
In 2011, the college found Visconti guilty of 31 counts of unprofessional conduct stemming from his treatment of nine patients with asthma or other respiratory problems between 2002 and 2005.
He was found to have inappropriately submitted bills to Alberta Health for numerous tests and procedures not recorded in patients’ charts. As well, the college ruled he failed to make timely referrals to a respirologist and didn’t consider alternative treatments for his patients.
Visconti appealed to the Alberta Court of Appeal, which upheld the conviction in 2012. He was suspended for 30 days at that point and ordered to undergo a series of peer reviews.
The new suspension takes effect April 27 to give Visconti a twoweek window to help his patients transition to other clinics. During that time, he will be allowed to see patients from 1-6 p.m. daily, but can’t initiate any new treatments and his prescribing privileges will be limited.
We don’t take it lightly, but it’s certainly something we do only when we have concerns about public safety.
Visconti was featured in a recent fatality inquiry into the death of Michael David Perreault, who was shot dead by police in 2015 after opening fire on officers during a traffic stop in northeast Edmonton.
Perreault, who had been diagnosed by several doctors as having a long-standing substance use disorder, saw Visconti 10 times in the two months before his death — in part to refill prescriptions for benzodiazepines and an opioid drug.
The inquiry heard the combination of these drugs — along with illicit methamphetamine — works to increase their toxicity in the body, and would have likely made Perreault appear impaired to police officers.
Visconti could not be reached for comment.