College yanks doctor’s licence for ‘unethical’ billings

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This article was published 17/07/2021 (1542 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A former Winnipeg doctor, who twice ran as a candidate for Manitoba’s Progressive Conservative party, has lost his licence to practise medicine.

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba has revoked the licence of Naseer Ahmed Warraich for unethical billing practices, failure to maintain a standard of care and for documenting information on patients he had not examined.

“Unethical and inappropriate billing practices constitute a very serious issue of professionalism,” wrote registrar Dr. Anna Ziomek in a two-page statement posted on the college’s website. “Such conduct is an insult to honest physicians who make up the vast majority of the profession and to the trust that society places in the medical profession.”

The college cancelled Warraich’s licence and registration, effective July 12.

Warraich was suspended for two months in 2006, after he was convicted of professional misconduct. He had co-signed prescriptions for patients in the United States whom he had not seen. Some were for animals, even though Warraich is not a veterinarian.

The college placed numerous conditions on his licence, including a cap on how many patients he could see per hour and a requirement a medical supervisor oversee his practice.

Warraich ran for the PC party in the Winnipeg riding of Concordia in 2011 and lost to the NDP candidate. He ran and lost again under the Tory banner in Tyndall Park in 2016, even after the party was aware of his 2006 suspension and the ongoing conditions related to his licence.

“Despite attempts to remediate deficiencies over time, Dr. Warraich failed to demonstrate that he was providing adequate care to patients and failed to create and maintain adequate medical records,” wrote Ziomek.

Warraich billed Manitoba Health for examinations of patients in personal care homes he had never seen between 2013 and 2016, an investigation committee found. He failed to properly diagnose and treat a tuberculosis patient between November 2017 and March 2018.

He also failed to examine a patient in May 2015, “when he was the most responsible physician for the care and management of that patient” and created a “false and misleading” medical record for the patient.

“Dr. Warraich’s conduct is not consistent with the privilege of continuing membership in the medical profession,” the investigation committee wrote.

“The public should not be expected to tolerate the college granting Dr. Warraich the continued privilege to practise medicine in the face of clear and convincing evidence that he cannot comply with core standards, even after remediation and while under supervision.”

In his written submission to the college’s inquiry panel, Warraich said revoking his licence was too harsh. He said he had taken steps to improve his record keeping and completed remedial programs to address standard-of-care issues.

“This type of penalty is only warranted in the most serious of infractions, which are not present in this case,” he submitted.

However, the inquiry panel found the results of Warraich’s participation in the clinical assessment and professional enhancement at the University of Manitoba “were not stellar.”

Also, his deficiencies in record keeping were not simply technical matters that could be easily solved. Record keeping is an integral part of providing proper medical care, the panel found.

“An extremely concerning feature of this case is the significant number of deficiencies in Dr. Warraich’s practice coupled with multiple examples of misconduct,” the college’s inquiry panel reviewing the case found. “Moreover, the nature and character of the deficiencies and misconduct were diverse and variable.”

Warraich has been fined $10,000 and has been ordered to pay $90,000 to cover a portion of the cost of the investigation.

tom.brodbeck@freepress.mb.ca