Ontario physician Dr. Akbar Nauman Khan has had his licence revoked after treating a patient without cancer for it and assisting a cancer patient in a way which aggravated it. .“Dr. Khan had a casual disregard for the welfare of these patients,” said the Ontario Physicians and Surgeons Discipline Tribunal (OPSDT) in a ruling. .“He provided them with treatment which exposed them to harm and resulted in financial gain to him.” .The ruling ordered Khan to pay $72,590 to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO). .He chose not to participate in the disciplinary hearing. Since he did not participate, the OPSDT did not have any evidence relating to his personal circumstances or actions after the misconduct which could reduce the penalty. .The panel called his misconduct “extremely serious.” It said he used an unconventional test, which he had a conflict of interest in, to diagnose cancer in the patient without it. .He treated the patient for cancer for 13 months and ignored the adverse side effects she experienced. He billed the Ontario Health Insurance Plan for providing palliative care when she was not terminal. .The ruling said Khan treated the actual cancer patient with chemotherapy despite his cancer specialists determining it was not required. It added he changed the patient’s medication, which put him at risk of worsening his cancer. .He did not join the patient’s circle of care, and his cancer specialists did not have the opportunity to intervene quickly to address the potential harm from chemotherapy. He was under this doctor’s care for more than three years. .The ruling went on to say Khan defended the allegations of misconduct by asserting he was targeted by the CPSO for practicing complementary/alternative medicine (CAM). It said practicing CAM does not give him free rein to do medicine how he sees fit. .In those cases, the ruling said his treatment decisions were intentional and not sincere mistakes. It said his actions demonstrate he is incompetent and unfit to practice. .The OPSDT concluded by saying revocation is necessary “to send the message to the profession and the public that a physician cannot do what Dr. Khan did and continue to practice medicine.”.“We do not believe Dr. Khan will practice medicine safely and the Tribunal would be failing in its duty to protect the public if it allowed Dr. Khan to continue to practice,” it said. .This case comes after Toronto family physician Dr. George Williams Otto lost his doctor’s licence in January after receiving a criminal record for participating in a drug trafficking scheme. .READ MORE: Toronto doctor loses licence after convicted of dealing fentanyl to patients.“Dr. Otto committed professional misconduct by being found guilty of an offence relevant to his suitability to practice medicine, fentanyl trafficking, and by engaging in disgraceful, dishonourable, and unprofessional conduct through breaching his bail conditions,” said an OPSDT panel. .A jury convicted him of trafficking in fentanyl, and he was sentenced to 14 years in prison. He violated his bail conditions while awaiting trial by breaking his promise not to prescribe certain narcotics.
