Doctor fights to get licence back
A Regina doctor is appealing the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan’s decision to revoke his medical licence and make him pay the costs of disciplinary proceedings.
A notice of appeal, prepared by lawyer Aaron Fox, was filed Thursday with Court of Queen’s Bench on behalf of Dr. Amjad Ali, whose licence was revoked by the college’s council on June 21.
Ali, who owns the Northgate Medi-Clinic in Regina, was ordered to pay the college nearly $49,000 in legal costs for the time the regulatory body spent investigating and prosecuting cases against him.
The college’s council has not yet issued its reasons for the penalty imposed. But in the listed grounds for appeal, Fox contends the council erred in failing to consider the circumstances of the offence. Further grounds may come once the reasons are released, the notice states. Ali’s case was before the college council for a penalty hearing after he was found guilty of three counts of professional misconduct involving interactions with female patients in 2011.
In one instance, Ali remained in a room while a female patient undressed and dressed. The patient said that while she was in his office, Ali started a conversation about having an affair with her, and tried to kiss her.
Another time, he told a patient she could be his lover and come back to his office after hours, and he would suck on her breasts.
A third patient complained to the college that Ali asked her invasive questions about her personal life that had no relevance to the medical treatment she was seeking to alleviate back pain.
The 2011 cases were not Ali’s first encounters with the college’s disciplinary committee.
In 2004, he was disciplined for sexual impropriety in his dealings with two female patients in 2003. His licence was suspended for three months, and he had to pay $20,000 for the college’s legal costs and take a course about appropriate boundaries between doctors and patients.