Winnipeg doctor hit with licence cancellation and $100,000 in fine and costs

A Winnipeg doctor stripped of his medical licence and ordered to pay $100,000 for providing inadequate patient care and falsifying medical records and invoices had been suspended previously for countersigning Internet pharmacy prescriptions for American patients he never saw. According to an inquiry panel of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba, the multiple transgressions committed by Dr. Naseer Ahmed Warraich suggested a “persistent disregard for the standards of the profession or an alarming lack of insight into the fundamental importance of complying with such standards.” Dr. Warraich, who unsuccessfully ran for political office twice as a Manitoba Progressive Conservative candidate, had failed to demonstrate he was providing adequate care to patients and did not create and maintain adequate medical records, the inquiry panel wrote in its decision. Two cases were cited: one involving a patient with tuberculosis and congestive heart failure who saw Dr. Warraich in 2017 and 2018, and another that centred on a hospital patient for whom Dr. Warraich was responsible in May 2015. The panel also found that between 2013 and 2016, Dr. Warraich had created misleading medical records and billed for assessments and examinations of residents in personal care homes when he didn’t actually perform these services. In its decision, the panel acknowledged that Dr. Warraich’s prescriptions-related offence, which happened in 2006 and resulted in a two-month suspension, was different in nature from his more recent actions and had occurred in the distant past. Nonetheless, the conviction—and what it implied about Dr. Warraich’s views on compliance with medical professional standards—was taken into account during the inquiry. “It is very unlikely that Dr. Warraich can be rehabilitated,” the panel wrote in its decision, which it finalized on April 29 and which the college posted on its website on July 12. “The panel has also concluded that given the diverse nature of the findings which have been made against him, this is not a case (in) which the public will be served by allowing Dr. Warraich to provide medical services to the public.” Dr. Warraich is one of two Manitoba doctors who this year have lost their right to practice as a result of disciplinary hearings. On July 4, Dr. Nihad Nagy William voluntarily surrendered his certificates of registration and practice. Read: Manitoba doctor accused of inappropriately touching two patients agrees to leave medicine for good Dr. Warraich went through a Clinical Assessment and Professional Enhancement review at the University of Manitoba, which found significant deficiencies in his practice. A remedial plan was created based on the assessment, but the panel did not have confidence in Dr. Warraich’s ability to improve, given his inability in the past to learn from self-directed courses in charting and medical record-keeping and to comply within the limits set previously on his practice, which included supervision. “Those limits have not been sufficient to prevent ongoing deficiencies in his charting and medical record keeping and did not prevent him from failing to adequately diagnose, manage and treat the patient with tuberculosis between March 2017 and March 2018,” wrote the panel. In addition to the cancellation of his practice registration, Dr. Warraich was fined $10,000 and ordered to pay $90,000 towards the cost of the investigations and hearing. Read: Manitoba college to rewrite rule for docs on Jewish ritual circumcision practice standard

Winnipeg doctor hit with licence cancellation and $100,000 in fine and costs

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