Thunder Bay pharmacy, 2 pharmacists face disciplinary hearings by Ontario regulator

A Thunder Bay pharmacy and two pharmacists face disciplinary hearings with the Ontario profession's regulator.

Jaspreet Sahota allegedly committed proprietary misconduct while working as the designated manager and director of Fort William Medical Pharmacy, says the notice of hearing on the Ontario College of Pharmacists' (OCP) public registry.

Chi Luu, who also goes by Hao, allegedly committed professional misconduct during the approximate period of January to May 2023 while working at the pharmacy, says the OCP notice.

Sahota allegedly "engaged in conduct or performing an act relevant to the practice of pharmacy that, having regard to all the circumstances, would reasonably be regarded by members as disgraceful, dishonourable or unprofessional," the notice reads.

The allegations include failing to adequately manage the pharmacy, supervise staff and keep documents as required. The notice said the allegations relate to narcotics/controlled substances, opioid agonist therapy (OAT) medications and/or patients. They also included compounding, medication labelling, as well as expired drugs and products.

The most recent allegations against Sahota were referred to the college on Sept. 9. They have not yet been tested at a formal hearing. The OCP had not released a hearing date as of Tuesday.

CBC News attempted to reach Sahota by email and phone, but did not receive a response by time of publication.

Previous manager faces2 disciplinary hearings

Sahota also faces a set of professional misconduct allegations that were referred on Aug. 19. They allege Sahota broke federal law related to narcotic control and had multiple failures related to management of narcotics/controlled substances.

The misconduct occurred from approximately January to May 2023 while Sahota was acting as the director, shareholder, owner, designated manager, and/or dispensing pharmacist at Fort William Medical Pharmacy, alleges the summary posted on the OCP website.

Sahota allegedly did not take reasonable steps to protect narcotics and/or controlled substances at the pharmacy from loss or theft the OCPsays that's a violation of Canada's Controlled Drugs And Substances Act. The allegations do not specify whether anything was actually lost or stolen from the pharmacy.

Under Sahota's management, prescriptions were allegedly being dispensed without a valid authorization from a prescriber, said the summary of allegations on the OCP website.

Unregulated staff at Fort William Medical Pharmacy were able "to sign records and/or process prescriptions to falsely indicate that pharmacists had dispensed and/or clinically verified prescriptions," as well as "measure, verify, dispense, and/or witness prescriptions for OAT medications," the summary alleges.

Before the two discipline matters were referred to the college, Sahota was subject to conditions on his right to practise. On March 24, 2024, he signed an agreement with the OCP that specified he had agreed to stop offering to compensate fees charged by the nurse practitioners and staff of the Fort William Medical Clinic for patients who elected to fill prescriptions at Fort William Medical Pharmacy.

Sahota's OCP profile lists him as a director of Fort William Medical Pharmacy Inc and three other corporations that own pharmacies in northwestern Ontario.

On the OCP database, Sahota is not listed as the designated manager at Fort William Medical Pharmacy, but is still listed as a staff member and director of the corporation that owns the pharmacy.

Falsifying record part of allegations against 1 pharmacist

In the case of Luu, the allegations were referred on July 19, 2024. They include falsifying a record, dispensing prescriptions without valid authorization from the prescriber and contravening multiple sections of the Province's Drug and Pharmacies Regulation Act.

According to the allegations, Luu "falsified a record relating to his practice and/or a person's health record; signed or issued in his professional capacity a document that he knew or ought to have known contained a false or misleading statement."

The allegations against Luu have not yet been tested at a hearing. Luu declined to provide comment on the allegations when reached by CBC News.

According to his OCP profile, Luu is no longer practising at Fort William Medical Pharmacy. His profile listed three other pharmacies in Thunder Bay as workplaces.

Most pharmacists have patients' best interests at heart: ex-OPA chair

While many pharmacists will make small mistakes that could result in complaints to the college, facing a professional misconduct allegation is less common, said Tim Brady, former chair of the Ontario Pharmacists Association (OPA), which advocates on behalf of over 20,000 pharmacy professionals.

Brady is not connected to Fort William Medical Pharmacy, Sahota or Luu and spoke generally to CBC News about pharmacist discipline.

Proprietary misconduct allegations are related to operation of the business, while professional misconduct allegations are related to personal actions of the pharmacist, Brady said.

"A misfiled script or a wrong name or wrong directions or stuff, those are the norms," said Brady, who owns multiple pharmacies in southwestern Ontario.

"Professional misconduct hearings happen when a pharmacist is accused of breaching the standard of practice and ethics, he said. "That's a very small group of people that would normally do that."

While the majority of pharmacists follow the rules and ethical standards of the profession, the OCP will investigate allegations of misconduct to protect the public, said Brady. Pharmacists have a duty to put the patient's best interests first, he said.

"Any time a pharmacist will do something unethical as in billing incorrectly, or false billing or consciously lying about something, those are big issues," Brady said.

"You do something that is not in the best interest of the patients, those are the types of things that are going to get you brought forward to a disciplinary committee," said Brady, speaking broadly.

A hearing date has not yet been scheduled for either Sahota and Luu, said the OCP in an email to CBC News. Information on hearing dates will be posted on its website once confirmed, it said.

If found guilty of professional misconduct or incompetence, they could face fines, reprimands, practice limitations, or see their registrations suspended or revoked.

If you have any more information related this story, contact Michelle Allan at michelle.allan@cbc.ca