A Chatham-Kent doctor is challenging the suspension of his hospital privileges for not complying with a COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
A Chatham-Kent doctor is challenging the suspension of his hospital privileges for not complying with a COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
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Dr. Ian DePass, whose hospital privileges were suspended for failing to comply with the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance’s vaccination policy, will see his case go before the Health Professions Appeal and Review Board.
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DePass’s privileges were suspended by the hospital on Nov. 1, 2021, after he failed to obtain a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and his request for an accommodation was rejected, according to a release from The Democracy Fund.
The fund, founded in 2021, is a Canadian charity that promotes constitutional rights through litigation and public education, its website says.
“As a surgical assistant, DePass cannot earn a living from medicine unless he has hospital privileges,” the release said.
DePass, a father of seven with two young children at home, has worked in construction since his suspension, it added.
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The hospital board upheld the suspension after a February 2022 hearing. The fund then retained lawyer Lisa Bildy to represent him in a new hearing before the appeal and review board.
This process is followed to challenge suspensions or terminations of hospital privileges under the Public Hospitals Act.
The Daily News has reached out to Bildy’s office.
The Chatham-Kent Health Alliance said it can’t comment on the matter.
DePass won a “small but critical motion” last spring, letting him present current evidence about the effectiveness of vaccines in preventing COVID transmission and widening the hearing’s scope, the fund said.
The policy mandates the original two-dose series of injections, but not boosters.
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The hearing was to begin this week and continue for six non-consecutive days, ending Jan. 19. The parties will then make written submissions to the board.
DePass has faced professional discipline before.
According to previously published reports, in 2012 the Committee of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario found he failed to maintain the standard of the practice of the profession in relation to his care and treatment of five patients. He also was ordered to pay $3,650 in costs to the college.
This stemmed from incidents occurring before DePass’s practice was restricted by the committee October 2009. His restrictions included limiting DePass, a surgeon, to acting as a surgical assistant during operations.
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