A disgraced Windsor doctor has agreed to stop practicing medicine in Ontario.
Dr. Thomas Barnard, who was a family and cosmetic doctor, resigned from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario June 30 and the college accepted on Tuesday. However, he still has a licence to practice in Michigan.
He agreed to stop practicing family medicine January 2017 and in March 2017, Dr. Barnard was suspended from practicing all cosmetic medicine for four months.
He arranged for a nurse to do injections at Fresh Medical Spa in Windsor during his suspension and called a physician friend to supervise the nurse but the college discovered the nurse performed injections without the oversight of a medical supervisor.
"It appears that [the proposed medical supervisor] was not aware patients were being treated under his care and what his responsibilities were," the college said in a statement. "It also appears that [the nurse] was not aware of these circumstances.”
Barnard was also found to be injecting Botox that was brought in by a patient from home, injecting Botox after it had expired, and storing partial filler for future use instead of using the full amount on a single patient or discarding it, said the college.
College documents showed that Barnard was also charged with fraud for billing OHIP nearly $2 million between 2007 and 2010 but continued his improper billing practices and was again charged with fraud at the end of 2010. However, the fraud charges were dropped in May of 2017, he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge, was prohibited from billing OHIP and from providing any insured services to patients, and had to pay back $600,000.
At a hearing in February of 2017, the college also said Barnard failed to maintain a professional standard of care and treatment for 55 patients and prescribed narcotics to a patient who died of an overdose.
"The Discipline Committee found that Dr. Thomas Joseph Barnard committed an act of professional misconduct, in that he has been found guilty of an offence that is relevant to his suitability to practice and has engaged in an act or omission relevant to the practice of medicine that, having regard to all circumstances, would reasonably be regarded by members as disgraceful, dishonourable or unprofessional," the college said.