'Drastically higher' opioid prescriptions contributed to doctor losing licence
A Sherwood Park family doctor who has permanently lost the right to practise medicine was prescribing opioids at rates "drastically higher" than other physicians, says the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta.
Dr. Vincenzo Visconti had practised out of the Brentwood walk-in clinic at 78 Athabascan Ave.
The college announced Monday that Visconti's licence to practise has been permanently cancelled.
Peer reviews of his practice found Visconti prescibed opioids at a rate that was "drastically higher" than other physicians, says a resolution agreeement signed by Visconti and the college's complaints director.
"[The peer reviews] showed a trend of increasing over time rather than decreasing, despite chronic pain guidelines outlining the need to decrease dependence on long-term opioids for non-malignant chronic pain," the document states.
But in an interview with CBC News, college registrar Dr. Scott McLeod emphasized Visconti's licence cancellation wasn't solely because of the opiod prescriptions.
There were also concerns with his billing practices and medical charting, McLeod said.
"It was a combination of many different issues in his practice that we felt led to him being unsafe in his ability to practise medicine," McLeod said.
He noted there were several attempts to help Visconti improve his work but nothing changed.
"This is not a crackdown on prescribing of opioids specifically. This is about, in general, bad practice behaviour," McLeod said. "The opioids is just one example of that bad practice behaviour."
Suspended since April 2018
Visconti's medical licence had been suspended since April.
The suspension was a rare move for the college and, at the time, the organization had invoked Section 65 of the Health Professions Act. The section is used when a practice "represents a continuing risk to patients."
Instead of proceeding to a disciplinary hearing, Visconti and the college agreed in December that the doctor would give up his licence.
Under the terms of the agreement, Visconti also agreed pay the cost of the three investigations, totalling more than $21,000.
He is also prohibited from applying to practise medicine in any other jurisdiction.
Visconti was also facing two criminal charges in 2018 for allegedly defrauding the government of Alberta of more than $5,000 "by deceit, falsehood or other fraudulent means," according to court documents.
The college said the criminal charges were not related to his licence cancellation.
Previous problems with the college
In 2012, Visconti's practice was suspended for 30 days after he was convicted on 31 counts of professional misconduct.
The convictions related to the way he treated nine patients with respiratory issues between 2002 and 2005.
The case involved billing irregularities and improper charting, according to court documents.
This is not a crackdown on prescribing of opioids specifically. This is about, in general, bad practice behaviour. - Dr. Scott McLeod, registrar, College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta
In October 2017, Visconti was granted "interested party" status at a fatality inquiry into the death of an Edmonton man who was killed by a police officer.
Michael David Perreault was shot to death by an Edmonton police officer in May 2015 after he wounded the officer's partner with a sawed-off shotgun.
Perreault had a lengthy criminal record and a long history of abusing both legal and illegal drugs.
In the two months before his death, Perreault saw Visconti on 10 separate occasions at his office in Sherwood Park. Seven of those visits were billed to Alberta Health Services as home visits, according to the fatality inquiry report.
Visconti noted that Perreault had a "history of chronic narcotic dependent pain syndrome, cocaine use, and a previous diagnosis of anxiety," the report said.
Still, Visconti refilled prescriptions for benzodiazepines, a muscle relaxant and an opiate and wrote Perreault a prescription for 14 80-mg tablets of OxyNEO, or equivalent, every seven days in the weeks before his death.
