Ontario physicians Dr. Crystal Luchkiw, Dr. Mark Trozzi, and Dr. Patrick Phillips have been ordered to go to disciplinary hearings after failing to prove the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) should not have investigated them. .“We will be seeking a review of the College motion decision because the hearing panel simply refused to address our key submission, which was the Registrar, Dr. Nancy Whitmore, did not have reasonable and probable grounds to order investigations of the doctors,” said the doctors’ lawyer Michael Alexander in a press release. .“Also, the panel ignored our submission that the College had failed to establish that the doctors had violated a standard of practice.” .The Ontario Divisional Court upheld a decision from the CPSO in restricting Luchkiw’s medical licence in October. .READ MORE: Court sides with Ontario medical regulator in suspending doctor’s licence.Luchkiw is facing two investigations from the CPSO. The investigations were commenced after it received information she issued a COVID-19 vaccine exemption to a high-risk immunocompromised patient, was deficient in infection prevention and control practices, and spread misinformation about the virus. .The CPSO determined her conduct exposed or was likely to expose patients to harm or injury. It decided to suspend her licence to protect patients until a disciplinary hearing could be held. .The CPSO said in 2021 it was investigating Trozzi for professional misconduct for making misleading, incorrect, and inflammatory comments about COVID-19 vaccines, treatments, and restrictions in emails and on social media. .Terms and conditions were imposed on Trozzi's medical licence a few months later, barring him from giving out vaccine exemptions. .His licence was suspended in December until a disciplinary hearing could determine a penalty for him. .Phillips started to be investigated in 2021 after going public about seeing his patients suffering harms from lockdowns, including those with advanced cancer walking into emergency rooms. .READ MORE: SLOBODIAN: Docs who speak out about COVID facing brutal suppression.“I’ve never seen so many suicidal children,” said Phillips..He said there is “something bigger than my medical career at this point because lives are being lost and we need to speak out.”.The release said a hearing panel at the CPSO ruled its restriction on freedom of expression about COVID-19 restrictions was a recommendation, not a binding rule which has the force of the law. This means Ontario doctors can no longer be prosecuted or required to undergo re-education for making comments critical of COVID-19 restrictions. .It said this case has implications for prominent Canadian psychologist and author Dr. Jordan Peterson’s battle with the College of Psychologists of Ontario. The hearing panel ruled the CPSO’s order to limit vaccine exemptions and not prescribe alternative treatments for COVID-19 were mere recommendations, which could not enforced against doctors. .Alexander said the panel “could not explain the basis for the charges brought against the doctors.” .“Since the decision does not meet the most basic standards of legal reasoning, we plan to appeal within the College and also bring another motion to deal with the implications of the decision, which could prevent the cases from going to a disciplinary hearing,” he said.
