Land of the Passing Buck

A.K.A - 'My Experiences with the CPSO et al'

In December 2004 I paid a visit to the Ministry of Health in Toronto. I wanted to speak to the Minister (fat chance) but instead I got to speak to his executive assistant. I explained to her that I wanted someone in the Ministry to look at my evidence against Ruth Warner, an investigator for the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario that withheld evidence from the College’s Complaints Committee. That I had been trying for some time.

It was suggested that I speak to Marilyn Wang. My response was that I did not wish to speak to Ms. Wang because I had spoken to her earlier that year and I was not satisfied with her response. Having spoken to her she said the legislation with respect to how the College conducts itself on complaints would most likely not be changed.

I had been attempting for years to get the attention of the Ministry or at least get my Members of Provincial Parliament, Dwight Duncan or Sandra Pupatello’s office to take the evidence. They’ve done nothing. The Ministry and the Minister are refusing to acknowledge that the College not protecting the public interest.

I decided after this very brief request to pay a visit to the Crown Attorney’s office in Toronto. The receptionist insisted they didn’t want anything to do with my evidence. I asked her if she would like to repeat that on tape? She said ‘No, that she didn’t want to be tape recorded’ and proceeded to find me Crown Counsel.

I was very happy to speak to Shelley Hallett of the Crown Law Office – Criminal division. She listened and took copies of my evidence, including the legislative requirements documented in the KPMG Report. She wanted to know why I didn’t submit the evidence to a police force? I tried to, London, Windsor, Toronto, but none of them would take it. Everyone wanted to pass the buck.

And they did.

I wanted to charge Ruth Warner for breach of trust and withholding of evidence under Part IV of the Criminal Code because she has a legislated duty to follow the Regulated Health Professions Act with respect to her duties as an investigator for the College, therefore, an official of the government that has legislated responsibilities.

Ms. Hallett told me she would get back to me but to this date I have not heard a word from her. Her assistant, Dimitri contacted me on June 20 (I posted the date on my blog). He told me that a letter was going to be sent addressing my visit with Ms. Hallett.

The letter never came.

I guess Dimitri is no longer working there and I spoke to a new receptionist. I was told that this letter had been sent to an address that was documented wrong by Dimitri, twice. The new receptionist sent me an email letting me know that the letter will be resent. That was 3 weeks ago.

Still no letter. Hmmm...could that be obstruction?

I let Ms. Hallett know, via an email hopefully passed along through her assistant that I was going to be posting my evidence on my blog and how I was dealt with by the Crown’s office. I guess laws are only meant for those who have no positions of power in Ontario and it seems in Canada. (I hope Gomery listens).

So this is the story…

In May of 2000 I took a trip to Morocco and ended up getting sick within two days. Within a week on my return to Canada I had cramps so severe I couldn’t sit still or concentrate.

I went to see Dr. Ballingall at the Trafalgar Clinic in London Ontario where I had been living. Now the Walkerton crisis was in full bloom in May and by this visit, 7 people had died and thousands of others sick with e-coli and campylobacter infections.

Dr. Ballingall said to me, without providing a requisition form to get tests for parasites or bacteria, I should “get checked for what I got before I give it to the rest of Canada”. He suspected strongly I had something communicable and it could be serious but he did not give me the form to get the appropriate tests. I asked him if he was going to give me a requisition form. He told me I could get it at the lab.

My son was with me and was insulted at the comments made by Dr. Ballingall. Why is it that a seven-year-old can pick up on abuse? He described Dr. Ballingall’s comments about not giving what I had to the rest of Canada as “not very nice."

I went to the MDS labs and asked for a requisition as Dr. Ballingall had suggested. They said that was the doctor’s responsibility to send me with a requisition because he was the one who knew what tests to check off on the form.

Dr. Ballingall had refused to give me a requisition form knowing that I could have a bacterial infection from the water I was drinking in Morocco that could have made me very sick or killed me.

I had to go to another clinic to get a requisition form. The physician I saw knew of the consequences of not giving me one and checked off as many tests as he could. He did not want to have his name associated with any negligence by not sending me for tests.

As it turned out I had a campylobacter infection and h-pylori. The London-Middlesex Health Unit contacted me as soon as they got the results of my test because campylobacter is listed in the regulations of the Health Promotion and Protection Act as a reportable disease. Reportable diseases are those physicians and nurses are to report if they suspect their patient has been infected with one of them.

I complained to them about Dr. Ballingall and they noted it in their documents.

Within a month of the infection I couldn’t walk and had to go to the hospital. I was in intense pain for 3 months. I couldn’t work my full time and eventually quit my job. It took seven months to get physiotherapy because they doctors at the Lawson Sports Clinic at the University of Western Ontario noticed the mechanics of my back were working.

I decided I was going to make a complaint to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario against Dr. Ballingall. I formulated my concerns and sent them in. In my complaint, I questioned the water in London not to mention the actions of Dr. Ballingall and that I complained about him to the health unit (among other stuff).

It wasn’t until I noticed reading it in the newspaper that there was a team of physicians monitoring the Walkerton residents. Hundreds had cases of unexplained arthritis from their e-coli and campylobacter infections and they still have it today. I got to see one of the specialists in this team, a rheumatologist at St. Joseph’s Hospital in London.

As it was explained to me, some individuals who have latent arthritis due to genetic factors, campylobacter acts as a catalyst to help arthritis to bloom into a full-fledged illness before the time it would have normally have its onset. At the time I was diagnosed with reactive arthritis.

I was diagnosed just last year that I have degenerative arthritis from an MRI and somehow, in 2002, was "diagnosed" with adult ADHD, which I've never had any indications ever as a child! ("diagnosed" is in quotations because this is a case of HRDC funded ADHD fraud - but that's another story.)

A year after my initial complaint with the CPSO it was reported that MDS labs in London was not testing the water for all of southwestern Ontario according to the new legislation that was written after Walkerton. My new doctor (the one who made sure he gave me the appropriate tests) contacted the government because he knew that I did not experience the pain like this in Morocco. It only got worse after I returned to Canada.

No one contacted me from the government.

The CPSO made their decision (it can be found in this post). They did not check the facts of the case properly, they accepted Dr. Ballingall’s lie that not giving me a requisition was an “oversight” and ignoring his comments, giving him the benefit of the doubt without cross examination.

I appealed.

The CPSO sent me copies of the documents they provided the Complaints Committee. Since I did not have the benefit of being present during the “hearing” of the Complaints Committee (being present is not part of the legislation in the complaints process), I was not able to see what documents were presented to them.

By examining what the College sent me, I noticed Ruth Warner had left out the documents (1 & 2) from the London-Middlesex Health Unit. Not only that, she didn’t request that I give consent to get the documents or add the documents from MDS labs (1 & 2)that I did give consent to. Instead, she obtained documents from others that had nothing to do with the campylobacter infection or my complaint.

Of course, this was my first time using the College to make a complaint so I didn’t exactly know what to do or expect.

In the fall of 2002, while I researched for my C.E.D.A.W submission, I also researched for six months all the legislation that was supposed to be followed by the College and Dr. Ballingall. By that time I had also obtained a copy of the KPMG report from the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care. (This letter by Marilyn Wang says this report was made public in 2001. It’s not on MoHLTC’s website.)

The date of my appeal was March 25 2003, right smack dab in the middle of the SARS crisis in Toronto. On that same date Tony Clement added SARS to the regulation 558/91 of the Health Promotion and Protection Act, the same Act that I was using as evidence to show the Health Professions Appeal and Review Board that Dr. Ballingall nor the College were not following their legislative responsibilities.

The full text of my appeal is here but in particular the part that mentions the above legislation is here

I didn’t want to re-write the whole submission so I put it up in its rather raw form. I wasn’t able to attend the appeal hearing, nor was I able to participate in a conference call because I didn’t have a phone. (I wasn’t working and in the process of moving to Windsor. I wanted to send the appropriate legislation but the Appeal Board said they had copies. Anything that goes to the HPARB is public. So anything in here, besides my name and that of my family physician are posted.

In June of 2003 I wasn’t expecting the response I got from the HPARB. They also dismissed my case without adequate rationale. They didn’t even respond to the legislation I submitted. Since I wasn’t able to partake (I had no lawyer acting on my behalf because justice isn’t free or even seen as something that warrants pro-bono work in Ontario so I was working on my own. See this post or this one).

I don’t even know if the Appeal Board actually even read my document.

By this time, the second outbreak of SARS washed over Toronto and the Ministry and health professions ignored the same legislation, the Health Promotion and Protection Act that I brought up in my appeal on March 25, 2003. I contacted the legal counsel of the Ministry of Health, a woman whose name I may remember if it is brought up, but she did not answer.

I left her an irritated message about the legislation, how come it wasn’t followed in the second outbreak? And that I had problems with the College and the HPARB with the same indifference to the legislation.

She didn’t call back.

I was pretty disgusted by the whole matter and wasn’t able to afford another appeal to a real court of law (even though this is what was needed and I wanted) nor did I understand how to proceed. This submission was about as far as I understood how to deal with the courts because I am not a lawyer. I only had a month to teach myself what to do and the process to too ominous in such a short time frame.

In the fall of 2003, after the Liberals won the election, I contacted Dwight Duncan’s office to request someone look at my evidence. I was told to send it to the Minister myself, which was about an inch thick because it also contained the KPMG Report.

I decided to ask Sandra Pupatello’s office since she was the official opposition’s health critic. They were responsive and were willing to help. But when I went in to speak to her assistant she was defensive and I got no response from Minister Pupatello’s office afterward.

I ended up sending a fax to the Ministry and was contacted by Summer Frenni who was willing to take my information but when I sent in a more thorough letter, the Minister replied to go to the Ombudsman’s office.

I contacted the Ombudsman’s office wanting to launch my complaint against the Ministry as well for not seeing that the College wasn’t administering the Health Professions Act the way it was meant: to protect the public interest.

An Ombudsman’s officer, Roslyn Domma, responded that they couldn’t do it, telling me there was nothing in the legislation that says I can complain against the Minister as if the Minister didn't have any legislative responsibilities.

I tried the Ministry again in two letters; one dated January 3, 2004 to Summer Frenni and another January 28 2004. I was eventually contacted by Marilyn Wang who told me verbally (I still have my notes from this chat) that the Ministry couldn’t make any commitment and that the Ministry probably won’t do it, that is, make changes to CPSO policy in the Regulated Health Professions Act.

Then came the SARS Commission. I decided if everyone has chosen to pass the buck, I’d contact the SARS Commission to see if they would accept my evidence (most of it posted on habamusrodentumreports). I sent them my stuff on April 23, 2004 and was sent this letter back from the SARS Commission on May 7 2004.


The SARS Interim Report came out on April 15, 2004. And guess what? Commissioner Campbell’s cited the exact legislation on page 51 paragraph one in the Report as I did in my appeal on March 25th. I was happy to see that I wasn’t wrong. But no one wanted to deal with the issue. Everyone wanted to pass the buck.

I contacted the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario because it seemed to be the same old story, doctors ignoring the concerns of nurses and others when it comes to their responsibilities. Somebody had to benefit from this evidence. I have my notes somewhere but I remember speaking to the nurse involved with the SARS issue at the RNAO.

I told her my story, how the legislation was ignored by the College, the HPARB and the Ministry didn’t want to deal with it. I also sent them a copy of the KPMG report. (I think everyone that health care affects has a copy of that damn report by now, but it was ignored by CTV and the Windsor Star when I offered it to them)

On the same day I visited Ms. Hallett and the Ministry of Health, I paid a visit to the law firm Roy Elliot Kim O'Connor (R.E.K.O) who was launching a SARS class action against the Ministry. I was in contact with their researcher, Sasha, after they won the West Nile suit against the Ministry. I gave Sasha a copy of the KMPG Report and a copy of my submission to the Health Professions Appeal and Review Board. He took copies of all of it and commented that I did so much work for myself but they, R.E.K.O couldn't help me. (Bullshit alert)

I was hoping to get some legal representation but Sasha misrepresented what the law firm did and it was only class action lawsuits. Well , R.E.K.O's "Areas of Practice & About our Firm" listed on their website don't support Sasha's comments. They only took my evidence that would help them win cases, but they avoided me as if I were a bad smell. (I showered that day too!)

Perhaps he was feeling left out because he didn’t come up with the legislation before I did.

In any case I sent two letters to R.E.K.O requesting a response to the above case, one to Patricia LeFebour and Doug Elliot.

I heard from neither.

Just last month I was happy to learn a day after CTV aired ‘Plague City’ that the law firms won the right to sue the government for the second outbreak of SARS. I was hoping to get this story on my blog way before then/

Maybe I’ll just send a link to this post to the Ministry and REKO again and post any responses. That is, if I get any...