William Osler discipline of doctor an egregious abuse of power

Abstract

The decision by the William Osler Health System to strip a physician of a medical director role after he criticized the province’s handling of COVID-19 is an egregious abuse of power by hospital leadership.

All public hospitals are governed by provincial legislation, allowing them to make operational decisions. But Osler managers are overstepping their bounds by assuming they have the power to infringe on a physician’s constitutionally protected right to freedom of expression.

As the Toronto Star reports, Dr. Brooks Fallis was removed as interim medical director of critical care at William Osler Health System, despite his efforts to lead them through the pandemic. The reason? He says it was because hospital management disliked his public remarks on Twitter about how the province was dealing with COVID-19, and threatened that his comments could endanger the funding relied on by the hospital.

This article was published in the Toronto Star on Tuesday February 9, 2021