Renegade cosmetic doctor gives up on regaining licence
Panel told Vincent Cheng ran illegal mail-order drugs business and was ‘unsafe and dangerous’
A disgraced former cosmetic doctor has dropped his bid to get his medical licence back after a disciplinary panel heard allegations that he ran an illegal mail-order drug business and fabricated graduation certificates for upgrading courses that he’d actually failed.
The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario cancelled a reinstatement hearing that was expected to resume Monday, after Vincent Cheng withdrew his application to get his licence back, College spokesperson Kathryn Clarke said.
The regulatory body, which opposed the bid, was represented by lawyer Lisa Brownstone, who raised a litany of concerns about Cheng when it last met in August to consider his case.
The Star was unable to reach Cheng on Monday for comment.
A plastic surgeon who investigated his cases said he lacked skill and knowledge
He has told a previous hearing, in which he represented himself, that the allegations against him were untrue.
Challenging psychologist David Simourd’s assertion that his client, Cheng, is “honest, insightful, altruistic and (has) a strong moral character,” Brownstone asked if he would still feel that way if he knew the former doctor allegedly sold drugs such as Valium through the mail to people in the United States, without prescriptions.
Simourd appeared surprised by the allegation.
Brownstone alleged that before Cheng’s licence was revoked in 2006, he would write prescriptions in the names of his employees. They would fill the prescriptions and give the drugs to Cheng, who would then resell them over the border.
After his licence was revoked, Brownstone alleged, he continued the mail-order business with drugs sourced elsewhere.
Cheng’s troubles with the College date back to 2004, when the regulatory body acted on complaints from patients unhappy with cosmetic surgeries he performed out of his home-based clinic in the Trenton area.
Cheng was trained as a general practitioner. A plastic surgeon who investigated his cases said he lacked skill and knowledge.
While under investigation, Cheng defied the medical watchdog by continuing to perform some procedures contrary to limitations placed on his licence.
The College then suspended his licence, but Cheng continued to operate and was charged criminally. He was convicted of aggravated assault for operating illegally and sentenced to nine months in jail. The judge was highly critical of the College for not being able to stop the renegade doctor.
In his recent application to get his licence back, Cheng included as supporting material a graduation certificate for a course he took last year at Hamilton Health Sciences in an advanced trauma and life-support course.
But Brownstone alleged the certificate was a phony.
The judge was highly critical of the College for not being able to stop the renegade doctor
Not only did Cheng fail the course, his instructor found him to be “unsafe and dangerous,” Brownstone said. In recent years, the College has been cracking down on doctors who perform cosmetic surgery and on the out-of-hospital premises where these operations take place.