EDITOR'S NOTE – This story has been revised as follows:
- to indicate that the CPSO says the agreement between the CPSO and Dr. Guirguis occurred before the CPSO disciplinary hearing, not after.
- to remove a statement by a CPSO representative indicating Dr. Guirguis’ agreement to not apply for registration is the “maximum level of punishment available”. The CPSO has since advised us that the representative may have misspoke and has clarified that the agreement was not a punishment but a voluntary undertaking by Dr. Guirguis.
- to remove incorrect statements indicating the College’s investigation into Dr. Guirguis was launched in 2015 and that Dr. Guirguis had been brought before the College’s discipline committee on a number of occasions.
- to clarify that the CPSO did not make any finding and took no action in relation to a complaint received by the CPSO alleging that Dr. Guirguis perforated a patient’s bowel during surgery.
- to remove an incorrect statement indicating that Dr. Guirguis agreed with the allegation that he engaged in an act or omission relevant to the practice of medicine that would reasonably be regarded by members as disgraceful, dishonourable or unprofessional.
We apologize for the errors.
A former Barrie surgeon has given up his licence to practise medicine and has promised his regulatory body to never apply to register as a physician ever again, anywhere.
The agreement arose prior to a College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) disciplinary hearing in November.
CPSO indicated Guirguis entered the agreement to cease practising medicine voluntarily.
The college had earlier launched investigations into Dr. Emad M. Guirguis and his now-defunct Lakeview Surgery Centre on Dunlop Street following complaints.
He was found to perform cosmetic surgery that was outside his scope of practice as a physician, not having the proper training and certification.
He also engaged in unprofessional conduct through online advertising and communications with a specific patient.
In addition to the practice ban, he was ordered to pay $6,000.
According to the CPSO, Dr. Guirguis has been brought before the College’s Inquiries, Complaints and Reports Committee in the past.
In one complaint, Guirguis tried to perform bariatric revision gastric band surgery, but decided not to complete the surgery because he encountered extensive scar tissue from previous surgeries.
According to documents from the CPSO’s Inquiries, Complaints and Report Committee, a complaint alleged that Dr. Guirguis perforated the patient’s bowel during the surgery, resulting in ongoing complications but the committee took no further action.
The complainant said he did not communicate or follow up with her after the surgery or provide a refund of her fee.
“The committee... was of the view that the respondent’s pre-operative assessment was insufficient,” the decision of the inquiries, complaints and reports committee found.
In another report, an independent assessor concluded: “Dr. Guirguis did not meet the standard of practice of the profession in some of the cases reviewed; his knowledge was adequate but basic; his surgical skills were adequate for his limited scope of practice; his judgment was not always adequate, mostly because the brief documentation does not allow a full understanding of his train of thought and exposes omissions or incomplete assessments; and in the reviewed cases his clinical practice, behaviour, or conduct had the potential to expose one patient to harm.”
Other assessors, it added, found broad deficiencies in Dr. Guirguis’s practice.
In a report from Dec. 14, 2018, Guirguis was cautioned about not providing a full explanation of a procedure to a patient and ensuring the patient had full clarity about what was going to be done following a complaint to the college about the outcome of a cosmetic surgical procedure.
According to CPSO documents, Guirguis entered a plea of no contest to allegations that he has engaged in an act or omission relevant to the practice of medicine that would reasonably be regarded by members as disgraceful, dishonourable or unprofessional.
He was ultimately found to have committed an act of professional misconduct.
Dr. Guirguis’s certificate of registration expired Sept. 4, 2020.
In addition to the clinic, Guirguis was also once a staff general surgeon at Barrie’s Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre.
Guirguis did not respond to requests for comment, but according to his Facebook page he is studying for his master's degree in theological studies at Tyndale University College and Seminary.
