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

A Thunder Bay pharmacy and two pharmacists are facing disciplinary hearings with Ontario’s profession regulator.

Jaspreet Sahota is alleged to have engaged in proprietary misconduct while working as the designated manager and director of Fort William Medical Pharmacy, the Ontario College of Pharmacists (OCP) public records hearing said.

Chi Luu, who also goes by the name Hao, is alleged to have committed professional misconduct while working at the pharmacy from January to May 2023, the OCP release said.

Sahota is alleged to have “engaged in conduct or performed an act relevant to the practice of pharmacy which, having regard to all the circumstances, would reasonably be regarded by the members as disgraceful, dishonorable or unprofessional,” the notice reads.

The allegations include failing to adequately manage the pharmacy, supervise staff and maintain records as required. The message stated that the allegations involve narcotics/controlled substances, opioid agonist therapy (OAT) medications and/or patients. They also include compounding, labeling of medications, as well as expired medications and products.

The most recent allegations against Sahota were referred to the council on September 9. They have not yet been tested in 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 at time of publication.

The previous manager faces two disciplinary hearings

Sahota also faces a series of professional misconduct charges filed on August 19. They allege that Sahota has violated federal law regarding narcotics control and has had multiple failures regarding narcotics/controlled substance management.

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

Sahota allegedly failed to take reasonable steps to protect narcotics and/or controlled substances in the pharmacy from loss or theft. According to the OCP, this is a violation of Canada’s Controlled Drugs And Substances Act. The allegations do not indicate whether anything was actually lost or stolen from the pharmacy.

Under Sahota’s direction, prescriptions were allegedly dispensed without valid authorization from a prescriber, according to the summary of allegations on the OCP website.

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

Before the two discipline issues were referred to the council, Sahota had conditions attached to his right to practice. On March 24, 2024, he signed an agreement with the OCP specifying that he had agreed to stop offering compensation for the fees charged by the nurses and staff at the Fort William Medical Clinic to patients who chose to fill prescriptions at Fort William Medical Pharmacy.

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

The OCP database does not list Sahota as the designated manager at Fort William Medical Pharmacy, but still as a staff member and director of the company that owns the pharmacy.

Falsifying part of the accusations against 1 pharmacist

In Luu’s case, the charges were referred on July 19, 2024. These include falsifying a record, dispensing prescriptions without valid consent of the prescriber and violating multiple sections of the provincial Drug and Pharmacy Regulation Act.

According to the charges, 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 should have known contained a false or misleading statement.”

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

According to his OCP profile, Luu no longer practices at Fort William Medical Pharmacy. His profile listed three other pharmacies in Thunder Bay as places of work.

Most pharmacists have the patient’s best interests at heart: ex-OPA chairman

While many pharmacists will make minor mistakes that can lead to complaints to the board, it is less common for them to face allegations of professional misconduct, says Tim Brady, former president of the Ontario Pharmacists Association (OPA), which advocates on behalf of more than 20,000 pharmacy professionals.

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

Allegations of corporate misconduct are related to business operations, while allegations of professional misconduct are related to the pharmacist’s personal actions, Brady said.

“A misfiled script or a wrong name or wrong directions or whatever, those are the norms,” said Brady, who owns several pharmacies in southwestern Ontario.

“Professional misconduct hearings occur when a pharmacist is accused of violating the standard of practice and ethics,” he said. “That’s a very small group of people who 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, Brady said. Pharmacists have a duty to put the patient’s interests first, he said.

“Anytime a pharmacist does something unethical, like improper billing, false billing or knowingly lying about something, those are big problems,” Brady said.

“You do something that is not in the best interest of the patients, things like that will get you brought before a disciplinary committee,” Brady said broadly.

No hearing has yet been scheduled for Sahota and Luu, the OCP said in an email to CBC News. Information about the hearing dates will be posted on the website after confirmation, the report said.

If they are found guilty of professional misconduct or incompetence, they may be fined, reprimanded, practice restricted or have their registration suspended or revoked.

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