DISCIPLINE SUMMARIES
received no response for some time.
On November 10, 2015, Dr. Pinto, through his
counsel, was advised that if he did not provide the
name of a preceptor by November 18, 2015, the
Compliance Case Manager would bring this matter
to the attention of the ICRC to consider his non-
compliance with the SCERP.
On November 16, 2015, Dr. Pinto proposed
another preceptor. However, the proposed preceptor
had not been approached by Dr. Pinto and ultimately
did not agree to act as preceptor.
When the ICRC considered Dr. Pinto’s failure to
comply with the SCERP on February 10, 2016, Dr.
Pinto had still not obtained a preceptor by that time.
The ICRC referred allegations of professional mis-
conduct to the Discipline Committee.
Dr. Pinto did not propose an additional preceptor
until March 17, 2016, after allegations of profes-
sional misconduct were referred to the Discipline
Committee. The College finally received an executed
undertaking from an acceptable preceptor on April
25, 2016, almost one year after HPARB confirmed
the ICRC’s SCERP.
Dr. Pinto’s preceptor provided a report to the
College on August 15, 2016 and noted that Dr.
Pinto has failed to maintain a log of requests for
documentation (noting all request details, dates of
requests and responses to the requests) as required in
the ICRC’s Order. Dr. Pinto had begun to create an
electronic log, but it was not complete and did not
contain the required information.
ORDER
The Discipline Committee ordered: a reprimand; and
payment of costs to the College in the amount of
$5,000.
For complete details of the Order, please see the
full decision at www.cpso.on.ca. Select Find a Doctor
and enter the doctor’s name.
At the conclusion of the hearing, Dr. Pinto waived his
right of appeal and the Committee administered the
public reprimand.
64
DIALOGUE ISSUE 1, 2018
DR. MARC JEFFREY PODELL
PRACTICE LOCATION: Mississauga
AREA OF PRACTICE: Surgical Assistant
HEARING INFORMATION: Admission; Agreed Statement of
Facts; Joint Submission on Penalty
On January 23, 2017, the Discipline Commit-
tee found that Dr. Podell has committed an act of
professional misconduct, in that he engaged in an act
or omission relevant to the practice of medicine that,
having regard to all the circumstances, would reason-
ably be regarded by members as disgraceful, dishon-
ourable, or unprofessional.
Dr. Podell practised as a surgical assistant at Tril-
lium Health Partners between 2003 and 2014.
Between 2008 and 2014, Dr. Podell was repeatedly
inaccessible during his on-call periods. Dr. Podell
did not respond to pages, was frequently late and/
or did not attend for emergency surgery while he
was on call. His conduct jeopardized patient care as
surgeons in emergent cases were forced to proceed
without assistance. Although Dr. Podell asserted that
he encountered difficulties with his pager and cell
phone, he took insufficient steps to address the issue
such that he could be available to the physicians and
staff of the hospital, despite numerous attempts by
the hospital to address this ongoing problem.
Dr. Podell made repeated inappropriate comments
in the operating room including commenting on the
size and features of anesthetized patients. In April
of 2009, Dr. Podell, while in the doctor’s lounge,
amidst other physicians, made inappropriate com-
ments while looking at pictures of women on a
website entitled “Asian Kisses”.
In May of 2013, Dr. Podell approached an 18-year
old patient from Quebec four times in two days,
aggressively requesting cash payment of his fee for
assisting at her laparoscopic appendicitis surgery in
the Pediatrics unit. The patient was upset by this ex-
perience. Both nursing and social work staff felt that
his advances towards the patient were harassing. Dr.
Podell conducted himself in this manner even though
he had been told several years prior to this incident