The disciplinary hearing against a Belleville doctor began in Toronto Tuesday, but without the doctor in attendance.
Dr. Mile Savic of the Family Medical Centre on Sidney Street faces four disciplinary issues with the College of Physicians and Surgeons.
Spokesman for the College, Shae Greenfield, tells Quinte News the five-member committee began the hearing which is expected to continue through Wednesday.
The College says the doctor failed to “maintain a standard of practice of the profession,” engaged in an “act of omission” that would reasonably be regarded by members as “disgraceful, dishonourable or unprofessional.”
Savic is also charged with “incompetence.”
A College document indicates in part: …the College intends to introduce as business records the medical and hospital charts related to the patient care that is the subject of the allegations.
It says: Dr. Savic has provided prescriptions to patients, whose identities have been disclosed under separate cover, in breach of an undertaking he signed with the College on November 22, 2010, that contained terms, conditions and limitations on his Certificate of Registration, including that he relinquish his prescribing privileges with respect to Narcotic Drugs, Narcotic Preparations, Controlled Drugs and Benzodiazepines and Other Targeted Substances.
The document cites unprofessional conduct: (a) in ordering unnecessary diagnostic testing in the absence of clinical indication or justification, and in submitting claims to OHIP in respect of the referrals; (b) in ordering a diagnostic service to be performed in a facility in which he has a proprietary interest and failing to inform patients and/or the College of the details of the interest…
Greenfield says no date has been set for announcing the decision on this present hearing.
In 2015, the College disciplined Savic, finding he “failed to maintain the standard of practice of the profession; he had a conflict of interest; and he has engaged in disgraceful, dishonourable or unprofessional conduct.”
After that decision, Savic had to submit to an independent assessment, was not allowed to conduct stress tests, nor permit his patients to undergo the tests at a facility owned by him or his family.
He was ordered to keep a record of narcotics prescriptions, and to pay the College costs of $4,460.
