Tribunal to reprimand pediatrician who viewed medical records to call parents of newborns
The Ontario Physicians and Surgeons Discipline Tribunal has suspended a pediatrician for eight months for accessing an electronic medical records (EMR) system shared by five hospitals to contact parents of newborns and offer circumcision services at a private clinic.
College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario v. Afandi, 2026 ONPSDT 27, involved a pediatrician who practised at WE Kidz Pediatrics, a private clinic he partly owned, and at the Windsor Regional Hospital (WRH), which shared the EMR system with four other hospitals.
Over 20 days, the pediatrician:
- used the shared EMR to perform 146 person searches for recently born male patients
- viewed the infants’ or their mothers’ names, medical record numbers, birthdates, sex, phone numbers, and health card numbers for around 159 patients
- offered private circumcision services at WE Kidz by calling 46 telephone numbers and by sending text messages to 17 numbers
- received or expected to receive an economic benefit through these steps
Actions by hospitals
A hospital sharing the EMR received two complaints regarding the pediatrician’s conduct from complainants who received inquiries about whether they would be interested in circumcisions for their newborns. This hospital told WRH about the complaints.
The pediatrician admitted to WRH that he had used the EMR to find patients based on birthdate and sex and reached out to offer circumcision services at WE Kidz. At WRH’s request, he immediately ceased this practice.
After WRH’s investigation, the hospital invited the pediatrician to withdraw his 2024–25 application for reappointment at WRH. He did so.
The pediatrician did not contest these facts and the evidence that he had engaged in disgraceful, dishonourable, or unprofessional conduct.
Misconduct findings
A panel of the Ontario Physicians and Surgeons Discipline Tribunal found that the pediatrician exploited and abused his position of trust to access 146 patients’ personal health information, transfer the information to his personal cell phone, and use the information to solicit clinical work not covered by the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) for his own financial gain.
The tribunal determined that the pediatrician engaged in conduct that was:
- disgraceful, dishonourable, or unprofessional
- against WRH’s by-laws and policies on confidentiality and access to personal health information
- in breach of the confidentiality agreement that he had signed
- contrary to the college’s Protecting Personal Health Information Policy and its Advertising Policy, prohibiting physicians from soliciting individuals to avail of medical services
- against Ontario’s Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004 (PHIPA)
Separately, for PHIPA contraventions, Ontario’s information and privacy commissioner issued an Aug. 27, 2025, decision imposing administrative monetary penalties (AMPs) of:
- $5,000 against the pediatrician for accessing and using patients’ hospital records without authorization for personal financial gain
- $7,500 against WE Kidz for failing to comply with PHIPA obligations
Ontario tribunal’s penalty
The panel of the Ontario tribunal held that the joint submission on penalty made by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) and its registrant would not bring the administration of justice into disrepute.
Thus, the tribunal directed the registrar to suspend the pediatrician’s registration certificate for eight months. The tribunal ordered the pediatrician to appear before the panel for a reprimand and to pay the regulator’s costs of $6,000.
As terms, conditions and limitations imposed on the pediatrician’s registration certificate, the tribunal required him to complete a specific ethics and boundaries program at his own expense.
Reasons for penalty
In ordering the penalty, the panel of the Ontario tribunal considered the following factors: the pediatrician’s extremely serious misconduct, his disciplinary history, and the case law on penalties in similar decisions.
The tribunal concluded that the penalty sought to:
- Protect the public
- Strongly denounce the pediatrician’s conduct
- Convey to registrants that breaching the law, college policies, and other pertinent policies on accessing personal health information and using that information for personal gain would lead to serious consequences
The tribunal added that the costs, as agreed by the parties, were reasonable and based on the half-day hearing tariff rate.
Prior disciplinary cases
Here are some other recent disciplinary matters involving the CPSO.
On July 21, the CPSO suspended a doctor at the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, who faced charges of possessing and accessing child sexual abuse and exploitation material under ss. 163.1(4) and 163.1(4.1) of the Criminal Code, 1985.
The Ontario tribunal issued a June 10 decision setting an eight-month suspension on a doctor who did not contest that he engaged in conduct toward two complainants that breached workplace policies and related legislation prohibiting sexual harassment.
In a class proceeding against a plastic surgeon and his corporation, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice issued a May 26 decision awarding affected patients $21.5 million in aggregate damages for the tort of intrusion upon seclusion and $1 million in punitive damages.
The Ontario tribunal made a Feb. 4 decision to temporarily suspend an obstetrician/gynaecologist who engaged in professional misconduct by failing to maintain appropriate boundaries between his personal communications and his professional contact with a patient.
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