Christiane Farazli, doctor who sparked health scare, reprimanded
An Ottawa doctor who caused a public health scare in 2011 after her endoscopy clinic failed a health inspection has agreed never to practise medicine again.
Dr. Christiane Farazli was publicly reprimanded Thursday by the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons for disregarding the safety of patients and ignoring the fundamental principles of infection control.
“Not only did you subject your patients to a very real risk of significant harm, your actions resulted in emotional distress and anxiety for thousands of patients as well as major costs to society for the investigations of blood-borne disease that were subsequently necessary,” the college’s disciplinary committee told Farazli in a sharply worded rebuke.
Farazli was ordered in 2011 to stop performing endoscopies at her clinic on Carling Avenue after she was found to be using improper cleaning procedures for patients treated between April 2002 and June 2011, among other actions. She publicly apologized to her patients in a written statement delivered by Ottawa Public Health officials in 2011.
On Thursday, she told the college’s disciplinary committee she would undertake to never practise medicine again. Had she not done so, the committee said, she would have faced “the most severe penalties available to the college,” which would include losing her medical licence.
Not only did Farazli risk harming patients through improper safety and sterilization procedures, but the disciplinary committee found that she treated multiple patients at her endoscopy clinic “in a manner which can only be described as abusive.
“It is hard to think of a more vulnerable position for these patients. To treat patients in this position with gross insensitivity and disregard of their discomfort is unconscionable.”
Among other things, the college alleged that Farazli failed to provide patients with enough sedation to be comfortable and “persisted with a procedure despite a patient’s request to stop due to unbearable pain.”
Ottawa resident Rebecca Soroka, in a class-action lawsuit filed against Farazli in 2011, claimed in an affidavit that the doctor told her to “shut up” when she cried out in pain during a colonoscopy and said she was “being a baby.” Soroka also claimed the doctor took her glasses and refused to give them back and that she witnessed a nurse wiping a scope tube with what appeared to be a baby wipe.
Jean-François Farjon, an Ottawa engineer who is also a plaintiff in the class-action suit, said in an affidavit that he demanded Farazli stop the procedure because it was so painful but that she refused and told him to be quiet because he would scare other patients. He said is he afraid to have another needed colonoscopy because of his experience.
Their claims have not been proven in court.
Farazli’s clinic failed an inspection done by the College of Physicians and Surgeons. She was also accused by Ottawa Public Health of using improperly cleaned and sterilized equipment.
After her clinic failed health inspections, Ottawa Public Health officials sent 6,800 letters to people who had received treatments at the clinic, warning them to get tested for HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C. No cases of the illnesses were found to be linked to the clinic. The province later reimbursed Ottawa Public Health $730,000 for costs related to the mass public notification.
Under new legislation, the college began inspecting out-of-hospital premises including endoscopy clinics in 2010. It was through such an inspection that problems were identified at Farazli’s clinic.
The college, which is the governing body for physicians in Ontario, accused her of acting in a “disgraceful, dishonourable or unprofessional” manner through “callous, rough and unprofessional communications with patients, maintaining inaccurate notes, proposing to engage a sales representative to assist her in a procedure when no nurse was available, and exposing patients to potential infection.”
Thursday’s hearing was based on testimony of 20 former patients. The class-action lawsuit, that has not been resolved, was filed against her in 2011.
The college’s disciplinary committee offered its sympathies to Farazli’s patients.
“Dr. Farazli, your patients deserved respect, sensitivity and expertise — you provided none of these. Your patients have our sympathy. I hope they have your abject apologies.”
The college is expected to release a full written decision on the case in several weeks.
epayne@ottawacitizen.com Elizabeth Payne Published on: Last Updated:
