On November 2, 2020, the Inquiries, Complaints and Reports Committee (ICRC) referred a matter involving Poneh Afkari to the Discipline Committee for a hearing. 

The hearing took place on June 7, 2021. This matter was resolved by way of an Agreed Statement of Facts and a Joint Submission on Penalty and Costs. 


Finding

The panel of the Discipline Committee issued a decision on the finding on June 7, 2021, on the penalty on June 7, 2021 and on costs on June 7, 2021. 

After having considered all of the evidence, the panel found Poneh Afkari to have committed the following acts of professional misconduct:

• paragraphs 1 (failing to maintain the standards of practice of the profession)
• paragraph 18 (engaging in conduct or performing an act relevant to the practice of the profession that, having regard to all the circumstances, would reasonably be regarded by members as disgraceful, dishonourable or unprofessional)
• paragraph 26 (failing to keep records in accordance with the standards of practice of the profession)
• paragraph 27 (falsifying a record)
• paragraph 28 (signing or issuing a document containing a statement that the member knows or ought to know is false or misleading)
• paragraph 32 (submitting an account or charge for services that the member knows or ought to know is false or misleading) 
• paragraph 33 (failing to take reasonable steps to ensure that any accounts submitted in the member’s name or billing number are fair and accurate.
  
  

Penalty

The panel of the Discipline Committee ordered the following penalty. That Poneh Afkari:

• Receive a reprimand at the conclusion of the hearing (delivered on June 7, 2021)
• Serve a suspension for the period of June 8, 2021 through to and including April 8, 2022. The suspension could be extended if they are unable to complete certain requirements
• Complete a review of various College, standards, tools and resources
• Successfully complete the ProBe program
• Meet with a practice coach on no more than eight occasions
• May not supervise physiotherapy students, physiotherapy assistant students or registrants of the profession who hold a provisional practice certificate of registration during the coaching period
• Practice as a PTA during their suspension only under the supervision of an approved, registered member of the College who is a full-time physiotherapist in Poneh Afkari’s practice location. If this is a private practice setting, this location must be owned by a regulated health professional. 
  
  

The panel also ordered Poneh Afkari to pay costs to the College in the amount of $2,500.00 to offset some of the costs associated with investigating and prosecuting this case.

As a part of the penalty the Committee also issued a reprimand which read as follows:

The panel has found that you engaged in significant professional misconduct. As a physiotherapist in a leadership role as a clinic owner, other members of the profession are influenced by your actions. In this case, you also risked the reputations and livelihood of individuals from two other healthcare professions. The conduct was unethical and brought disrepute to the profession. 
 
The panel wants to highlight that your deficiencies in recordkeeping is a recurring behaviour. Based on the prior history with the Inquiries, Complaints and Reports Committee in 2016, this panel found that you were previously made aware of similar shortcomings; therefore, you should have been able to avoid issues related to recordkeeping.
 
We expect that when you return to practice, you will ensure your adherence to the standards of the profession. We expect that you will never again find yourself before a discipline panel of this College. If you do, the outcome of this proceeding will weigh heavily on any future penalty consideration.

You can read the full decision of the Discipline Committee of the College of Physiotherapists of Ontario at: www.canlii.ca