Three doctors disciplined in cases where drugs played a central role

Potentially addictive drugs figured prominently in two separate disciplinary cases dealt with Saturday by the College of Physicians and Surgeons.

A Regina doctor who stole the drug ketamine for his own use from Pasqua Hospital is barred from working as an emergency room physician, as well as a critical care associate and a surgical assistant.

However, he will still be allowed to provide care in an emergency department if he is on call or treating his own patients.

Dr. Jordan Velestuk was working as an emergency care doctor at Pasqua at the time of the incident in November 2012.

Velestuk has admitted to his actions, and undergone addiction treatment. He had moved on to work as a family physician in Regina, but stopped again last November after relapsing and going back into treatment, the College’s council was told.

The relapse is currently under College investigation, and Velestuk won’t return to practice until the registrar approves, council also heard. He told the council he hopes to continue in family practice.

Along with the prohibitions, Velestuk was ordered to submit to random drug tests. He must also take part in the Physician Support Program run by the Saskatchewan Medical Association.

He was also reprimanded and ordered to pay close to $7,400 in investigation and hearing costs.

Meanwhile, two doctors in Moose Jaw each received onemonth licence suspensions for the way they handled drug-addicted patients.

Dr. Pierre Hugo has been given until April 24 to begin his suspension. Dr. Leon Jansen Van Rensburg had already lost his licence, having failed a Medical Council of Canada exam.

Their case dates back to a period from 2010 to 2012, when the two doctors took over a practice that turned out to include several patients with addictions.

The College charged them with inappropriate prescribing, to which they both admitted, said their lawyer Nicholas Cann.

They found themselves “in over their heads”, he told the council.

Once the problems were identified there was going to be a period of change, but it didn’t happen quickly enough, Cann continued.

Jansen Van Rensburg said opioids weren’t a problem in their native South Africa, and they had no knowledge and no training for that.

It was more a case of “failure to pay attention” rather than “deliberately ignoring what was expected of them”, the College’s Associate Registrar Bryan Salte told the council.

Salte also said Hugo’s prescribing pattern has changed, and is no longer a concern.

Nevertheless, Salte argued for a suspension for both doctors. He said it was needed to send a message to the rest of the medical profession, and to show the public the College is properly supervising doctors by imposing sanctions.

Cann opposed the suspensions, saying both doctors acknowledged the problem and took steps to rectify it.

He called a suspension at this stage “punishment for the sake of punishment” and “retribution”.

In addition to their suspension and a reprimand, both doctors must take a course in prescribing and medical record-keeping. They must also pay costs of $3,000 each.