Sherwood Park doctor confused by suspension

A Sherwood Park family doctor given two weeks to wind up his practice before facing a disciplinary process has now been hit with an immediate suspension.

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta had scheduled Dr. Vincenzo Visconti’s licence suspension to take effect April 27, allowing him time to help his patients find other clinics.

In the meantime, Visconti was restricted to seeing patients from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m., banned from initiating any new treatments and had his prescribing privileges limited — including limits on his ability to prescribe benzodiazepine and opioid medications.

An update posted on the college’s website Friday said Visconti had failed to “abide by (the) conditions,” forcing the college to act immediately.

Visconti, who is believed to have an unusually large roster of some 3,500 patients, has been operating the Brentwood Medical Walk-In Clinic.

He was charged 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.

The college has said its decision to suspend Visconti was not specifically related to the criminal charges, but had more to do with long-standing, ongoing concerns around prescribing and quality of care.

Visconti could not be reached for comment, but a posting on his clinic’s Twitter account expressed confusion.

“We don’t have a solid reason of why we were forced to shut down early, but we will keep you informed as more news comes in,” the posting said.

The clinic’s Twitter and Facebook pages also announced that a rally for Visconti is being organized for the legislature at 11 a.m. on Sunday.

The Twitter posting used the hashtag #viscontistrong.