Ontario tribunal revokes registration of doctor
- Dignity 4Patients
- Dec 11, 2025
- 3 min read
By Bernise Carolino- 11/12/2025- Canadian Lawyer- [Ontario, Canada]
After a court found a doctor guilty of voyeurism and possessing and making child pornography, the Ontario Physicians and Surgeons Discipline Tribunal reprimanded him, ordered the revocation of his registration certificate, and ordered him to pay $6,000 in costs.
In College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario v. Stern, 2025 ONPSDT 32, the doctor earned his independent practice certificate from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario in 1990. He primarily practised as a general practitioner in the hospital setting.
In July 2022, the registrant faced charges for possessing and accessing child pornography and making it available under ss. 163.1(4), 163.1(4.1), and 163.1(3) of the Criminal Code, 1985. He resigned his hospital privileges.
In October 2022, the registrant signed an undertaking with the College to stop practising medicine in all jurisdictions.
The following month, the registrant faced additional charges for making and possessing child pornography and engaging in voyeurism under ss. 163.1(2), 163.1(4), 162(1)(c), and 162(1) of the Criminal Code.
In April 2023, the registrant began paying frequent visits to a library. The next month, he resigned from membership with the College.
In July 2023, the registrant pleaded guilty and received convictions for possessing and making child pornography and surreptitiously observing or making visual recordings of persons with reasonable expectations of privacy under ss. 163.1(4), 163.1(2), and 162(1) of the Criminal Code.
In December 2023, due to his library visits, the registrant faced a charge for failing to comply with a release order that prevented him from visiting locations where individuals under the age of 16 were present or could reasonably be expected to be present.
In June 2024, the registrant received a four-year total custodial sentence. In September 2024, the court found him guilty under s. 145(5)(a) of the Criminal Code of breaching the release order, for which it imposed a 90-day sentence consecutive to the sentence he was already serving.
Last Oct. 14, a hearing of the Ontario Physicians and Surgeons Discipline Tribunal proceeded, based on the parties’ agreed statement of facts.
The registrant admitted that the court found him guilty of an offence relevant to his suitability to practise under s. 51(1)(a) of the Health Professions Procedural Code, Schedule 2 to Ontario’s Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991.
The registrant admitted to possessing child pornography – specifically 1,085 images and 745 videos – at the time of his arrest. He also admitted to taking videos of family members in the washroom of his family home from 2013–20.
The registrant admitted that possessing and making child pornography and engaging in voyeurism:
were offences relevant to his suitability to practise
constituted disgraceful, dishonourable, or unprofessional conduct
amounted to conduct unbecoming of a physician
In a joint submission, the registrant and the College sought the mandatory penalties of a reprimand and the revocation of his registration certificate, as well as an order for him to pay $6,000 to cover the College’s hearing costs.
Registration revoked
A panel of the Ontario Physicians and Surgeons Discipline Tribunal accepted the registrant’s admissions and imposed the jointly submitted penalty. The panel delivered a written reprimand because he did not attend the hearing.
The panel found professional misconduct on the registrant’s part because the court had found him guilty of offences relevant to his suitability to practise under s. 51(1)(a) of the Health Professions Procedural Code, and because he had engaged in disgraceful, dishonourable, or unprofessional conduct and conduct unbecoming of a physician.
The panel determined that this case met the requirements of s. 51(5.2)(a) of the Health Professions Procedural Code, which required the tribunal to reprimand a member of the College and revoke his registration certificate if it found him guilty of professional misconduct under s. 51(1)(a) of the Health Professions Procedural Code, and if a regulation prescribed the offence.
Pursuant to Ontario Regulation 262/18, the panel noted that ss. 162(1) (voyeurism) and 163.1 (child pornography) of the Criminal Code were offences prescribed under the Health Professions Procedural Code.
If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article and were abused in state run medical and health facilities, you can contact Dignity4Patients, whose helpline is open Monday to Thursday, 10am to 4pm.
Dignity4Patients Commentary: A Doctor holds a position of power over patients, it is their responsibility as a practitioner to adhere to their duty of care and ensure the safety and wellbeing of their patients; their conduct outside of work reflects on their professional responsibility to uphold this duty of care.
