CCO Annual Report 2002 Disciplinary Actions

Roger Turner, DC - Barrie

Agreed Statement of Facts

The parties agreed to a statement of facts summarized below.

• Dr. Turner (the “Member”) has been a member of CCO since 1974. He is a self-employed chiropractor and has two chiropractic offices, one in Barrie, Ontario, and one in North Bay, Ontario.
• CCO received a letter of complaint about the Member’s advertising and other activities from a local chiropractic society. The Member had advertised and sent mailings to local residents that included:
• a letter to a former patient asking why the patient was not attending for treatment, indicating that the patient needed spine and skull treatment immediately, and offering a price special treatment as an inducement to make an appointment;
• a post card advertising an educational video “That could save your life” concerning parasites feeding on humans;
• a letter to patients offering a “Referral Reward Program” where for every referral that becomes a patient, the referring patient would receive a gift certificate at the YMCA or two complimentary adjustments;
• a parasite lifestyle checklist used to diagnose the presence of parasites and recommending a “parasite cleanse” from the Member’s office; and
• an endorsement for an “amazing” diet product. During the course of CCO’s investigation into the complaint, the Member admitted that he tests his patients for parasites by having their blood drawn at his clinic and viewing the blood samples through a microscope (“live cell analysis”). The Member acknowledges that chiropractors are not permitted under the Regulated Health Professions Act to perform any procedure under the dermis, such as drawing blood, and that they cannot delegate that controlled act to another person. The Member also acknowledges that chiropractors are not permitted to identify for patients whether parasites are present. The Member acknowledges that only licensed collection centres established under the Laboratory and Specimen Collection Centre Licensing Act can analyze human blood specimens, and that his clinics are not licensed collection centres. The Member acknowledges that neither he nor anyone at his clinic has engaged in dark field microscopy or live cell analysis since March 2001. Joint Submission as to Penalty The parties agreed on a submission as to penalty summarized below, namely, that the Discipline Committee make an order:
• Finding that the Member has committed acts of professional misconduct, and in particular, he
• engaged in conduct or performed an act that, having regard to all the circumstances, would reasonably be regarded by members as disgraceful, dishonourable or unprofessional, contrary to subsection 51(1)(c) of the Code and paragraph 1.33 of the Professional Misconduct Regulation, and in particular, he:
• published and/or distributed inappropriate promotional material to patients;
• inappropriately delegated blood testing and analysis of his patients;
• inappropriately delegated dark field microscopy to technicians in his office;
• identified for patients whether parasites were present when he was not qualified to do so; and
• contravened a standard of practice of the profession or failed to maintain the standard of practice of the profession expected of members of the profession with respect to his advertising, contrary to subsection 51(1)(c) of the Code and paragraph 1.2 of the Professional Misconduct Regulation.
• Requiring the Member to appear before the panel to be reprimanded;
• Requiring that the Member comply with the Undertaking signed by him and attached to the Resolution Agreement;
• Requiring the Member to pay a portion of CCO’s investigative and legal costs in the amount of $2,500 with $300 payable January 1, 2003, and $200 per month thereafter for 11 months.