Dental College First to Pass By-law Expanding Information on Public Register
The Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario (the “College”) is making more information available to the public about dentists than ever before.
At its December 16, 2014 meeting, the Council of the College passed by-law amendments which require that the College post the following information about its members on the public register:
oral cautions ordered by the College’s Inquiries, Complaints and Reports Committee (“ICRC”);
specified continuing education or remediation programs (“SCERP”) that the ICRC requires a member to complete;
additional details regarding allegations of professional misconduct or incompetence referred to the College’s Discipline Committee; and
findings of guilt for criminal offences that are relevant to a member’s suitability to practise dentistry.
These changes are part of the wider ongoing initiative of all Ontario health regulatory colleges to increase transparency and are in furtherance of the AGRE transparency principles.
Oral Cautions and SCERPs
The new by-law provides that all oral cautions and SCERPs ordered after October 1, 2015 will be posted on the public register. Currently, the outcome of all complaints that are disposed of by the ICRC is kept private (though it does become part of the member’s record at the College), unless the ICRC decides to refer the matter to the Discipline Committee or the Fitness to Practise Committee.
The specific information posted publicly about oral cautions and SCERPs will include:
a notation of the ICRC’s decision to issue an oral caution or require that a member complete a SCERP;
a summary of the caution or the SCERP;
the date of the ICRC’s decision; and
if applicable, a notation that the decision is currently under review or on appeal and is therefore not yet final.
Oral cautions and SCERPs will not remain on the public register indefinitely. The information regarding oral cautions will be removed two years after the member has appeared before a panel of the ICRC to be cautioned, and the information regarding SCERPs will be removed as soon as the Registrar is satisfied that the member has successfully completed the SCERP.
Additional Details Regarding Referrals to the Discipline Committee
Currently, where allegations of professional misconduct or incompetence are referred by the ICRC to the Discipline Committee, the College lists on the public register a brief summary of each allegation and, once it has been set, the anticipated date of the hearing.
As of October 1, 2015, however, the public register will also include the date of the referral to discipline, the status of the discipline hearing, and the full Notice of Hearing.
The Notice of Hearing is a formal document that is provided in order to notify a dentist that allegations of professional misconduct or incompetence have been made against him or her and will be heard and determined by a panel of the Discipline Committee. The Notice of Hearing sets out all of the specific allegations made against the dentist, with reference to the sections of the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991, the Dentistry Act,1991, and/or the dentistry professional misconduct regulation that the dentist is alleged to have contravened. In addition, details about the particular facts underlying the allegations are set out in the Notice of Hearing. The Notice of Hearing may contain particulars of the misconduct alleged, but would not include the identity of any patients whose care or treatment is at issue or who have complained against the dentist.
Criminal Convictions
Although this information has always been public, the College is now making dentists’ criminal convictions for offences relevant to their suitability to practice dentistry readily available to patients and other members of the public, on its website.
Following the recent by-law amendments, the College is required to post a summary of any finding of guilt for a criminal offence of which the College is aware that has been made by a court on or after January 1, 2015 against a member. This includes criminal convictions made in any jurisdiction, not just in Ontario.
The by-law states that only those criminal convictions that the Registrar determines are relevant to the member’s suitability to practise will be posted on the public register. However, there is no explanation as to the meaning of “relevant to the member’s suitability to practise”. Accordingly, it remains to be seen what criteria the Registrar will apply when determining whether a particular criminal conviction is relevant to a member’s suitability to practise dentistry. Dentists faced with criminal charges are therefore advised to seek health law advice before resolving such charges, in light of the impact that such resolution may have on the information included on the public register as well as the fact that criminal charges often result in the dentist facing discipline proceedings.
Conclusion
These changes will have a significant impact on the way the College operates and on all dentists who are subject to a College complaint or investigation. Although investigations into alleged professional misconduct or incompetence are supposed to be completed within 120 days, it is typical for members to wait much longer before receiving a decision from the ICRC. Accordingly, dentists who are currently awaiting a decision from the ICRC, or those who receive notification in the coming months that a complaint has been logged against them face the possibility that the details of the ICRC’s decision will be known to the public, even if the matter is not referred to a discipline hearing.
For more information regarding these changes and how they may affect you, please contact us.
