Two week ago our family was informed that our doctor was on medical leave till mid January by his staff.
One week ago a pharmacist friend of my wife alerted her that our doctor could no longer issue prescriptions due to a licence suspension.
I asked the stand in doctor today what the hell was going on given what I knew. He told me that it was standard practice for the College of Physicians of British Columbia to suspend the licence of doctors who were incapacitated due to ill health . I’m calling bullshit, and I’m seriously concerned. Can anyone shed some light on this?
I can’t speak for the canadian system, but in the US, a license suspension is generally done to protect the public, to punish unprofessional conduct, and also to serve as an example to other practitioners that the behavior cited is not going to be tolerated.
It can also be used to get the doctor’s attention, as it really shouts out: “You need to take care of your problem”.
I’ve not heard of it being done due to physical illness, unless it diminished the doctors capacity and was a clear and present risk to patients as a result.
In the US, medical board actions are public records, so one can just visit the State board website and get the details as to why/wherefore.
Some of the best docs I know had such licensure trouble, gotten help (generally for substance abuse or mental illness), got well, got their licenses back, and have done quite well for themselves and their patients.
As a matter of pure speculation, could the ill health possibly have something to do with sunstance abuse? If a hypothetical MD was found to be addicted to prescription meds and sent off to a rehab program, might not “ill health” be used to describe this in very general terms.
(I hope it’s clear that this is speculation about one possibility, and not a suggestion that this is likely to describe your doctor.)
I’m familiar with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta (not British Columbia), but they’re probably similar in the terminology they use.
In Alberta, AFAIK, a doctor’s license wouldn’t be “suspended” just due to ill health. The term “suspension” is more serious.
To be licensed to practice in Alberta, one of the requirements is that “your name has not been struck off a register of any licensing authority and that you are not or have not been suspended by any licensing authority or tribunal in Canada or elsewhere.”
A doctor must be licensed in order to write prescriptions.
I can think of one reason why your doctor might not be able to write prescriptions, even if your they really are just taking time off due to illness and not really “suspended” - they might not have kept their license current. I know that in Alberta the annual billing for medical license fees is in December. So if a doctor doesn’t renew their license by January 1st, then they can’t write prescriptions or bill health care/insurance for their services until they pay the fee.
So, possibly, if your doctor is ill they might have decided not to pay their annual license fee until they return to practice. That would mean they can’t prescribe right now. I know that sometimes retired physicians will continue paying their fees and they’re still able to prescribe, even though they aren’t actively working or practicing medicine, because they’re still licensed.
However, if the pharmacist specifically used the term “suspended”, I’d guess that that’s what they meant. Pharmacists have licensing bodies like physicians do, and they probably wouldn’t be careless in what term they used when they said “suspended.”
Also, I know that when the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta takes disciplinary action against a physician that information is published (sometimes with the doctor’s name, and sometimes just a description but with their name omitted).