The Ontario Physicians and Surgeons Discipline Tribunal has suspended the medical licence of a physician for twelve months after he was found to have committed professional misconduct in Saskatchewan and subsequently failed to report criminal charges to Ontario’s medical regulator. The decision, cited as College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario v. Horri, 2025 ONPSDT 20 (CanLII), released on July 21, 2025, details a series of breaches by Dr. Mehdi Horri, a family physician licensed in both Ontario and Saskatchewan.
The Tribunal found that Dr. Horri committed professional misconduct on two distinct grounds. The first stemmed directly from a disciplinary finding made by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan (CPSS) in 2023. The second involved Dr. Horri’s failure to report criminal charges to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) and for providing incomplete information on his annual renewal questionnaire, conduct the Tribunal deemed “disgraceful, dishonourable or unprofessional.”
Dr. Horri, who currently practises medicine in Estevan, Saskatchewan, obtained his licence to practise in Ontario in 2015. However, he has not practised in the province since 2019 and, in December 2021, signed a formal undertaking with the CPSO agreeing not to practise in Ontario unless specific conditions were met. His troubles began in Saskatchewan, where he has been licensed since 2012.
The events leading to the Ontario suspension started on February 24, 2023, when Dr. Horri provided a formal undertaking to the CPSS. In that binding promise, he agreed that he would not have any professional encounters with female patients unless a female practice monitor was present in the room. The undertaking also explicitly required him to immediately report any known or suspected breach of this condition to the Saskatchewan College.
Less than a month later, this undertaking was breached. On March 20, 2023, Dr. Horri conducted a medical appointment with a four-year-old female patient. The patient was accompanied by her father, but the required female practice monitor was not present for the encounter. Compounding the initial breach, Dr. Horri failed to report the incident to the CPSS as his undertaking demanded. The breach was instead brought to the attention of the Saskatchewan regulator by the practice monitor.
Following an investigation, the Council of the CPSS found in September 2023 that Dr. Horri had engaged in “unbecoming, improper, unprofessional or discreditable conduct” under Saskatchewan’s Medical Profession Act, 1981. As a penalty for this misconduct, the CPSS issued a reprimand, suspended his Saskatchewan medical licence for two months, and ordered him to pay costs.
Under Ontario’s Health Professions Procedural Code, a finding of professional misconduct by a medical regulator in another Canadian jurisdiction automatically constitutes an act of professional misconduct in Ontario, provided the actions would also be considered misconduct within the province. The Tribunal affirmed that failing to comply with an undertaking is a serious act of professional misconduct in Ontario, thus establishing the first ground for its own finding against Dr. Horri.
The second set of issues concerned Dr. Horri’s failure to meet his reporting obligations to the CPSO. In September 2023, he was charged with operating a conveyance in a manner dangerous to the public, an offence under the Criminal Code. He was subsequently placed on a Release Order with specific conditions. The Health Professions Procedural Code in Ontario mandates that all physician registrants must report any criminal charges, bail conditions, or restrictions to the College “as soon as reasonably practicable.”
Dr. Horri did not report the dangerous driving charge or its associated release conditions to the CPSO. The Ontario regulator was only made aware of the charge in January 2024, when it was notified by its counterpart in Saskatchewan, the CPSS. The dangerous driving charge was ultimately stayed in July 2024.
A more serious reporting failure occurred several months later. On March 27, 2024, Dr. Horri was charged with sexual assault under the Criminal Code and was again subject to a Release Order. The CPSS notified the CPSO of this new charge on the same day it was laid. In April 2024, while completing his mandatory Annual Renewal Questionnaire for the CPSO, Dr. Horri was required to disclose any outstanding criminal charges. Instead of providing the required details of the charge, he provided an incomplete answer, listing only the courthouse location.
The CPSO had to follow up directly with Dr. Horri on June 11, 2024, to obtain the necessary information. It was not until July 5, 2024, that he filed a complete report outlining the charge as required by the Code. Counsel for Dr. Horri later informed the CPSO in August 2024 that the sexual assault charge had also been stayed. The Tribunal emphasized that the professional misconduct arose from the failure to report in a timely and complete manner, regardless of the eventual disposition of the criminal charges.
At the hearing on June 2, 2025, conducted by videoconference, Dr. Horri, through his legal counsel, admitted to the allegations. Both his counsel and the CPSO’s legal team presented the Tribunal with an Agreed Statement of Facts and a joint submission on the appropriate penalty.
The proposed penalty included a formal reprimand, a 12-month suspension of his Ontario certificate of registration, and an order to pay $6,000 in costs to the College. In its reasoning, the five-member panel, chaired by Jay Sengupta, acknowledged its duty to exercise restraint when considering a joint submission, stating it should only be rejected if it “would be viewed by reasonable and informed persons as a breakdown in the proper functioning of the justice system.”
The Tribunal concluded that the proposed penalty was appropriate and reasonable. It stressed that the entire system of professional self-regulation relies on registrants being honest and complying with their obligations, including undertakings and reporting requirements. Failures in this regard are considered a serious matter because they undermine the regulator’s ability to fulfill its primary mandate of public protection.
In considering the 12-month suspension, the panel noted that it was on the higher end of the range seen in comparable cases, which typically involved suspensions of three to twelve months. However, the panel found the significant length to be justified by a crucial aggravating factor: this was Dr. Horri’s third appearance before a College disciplinary body. The Tribunal cited the established principle of progressive discipline, where penalties become increasingly severe for subsequent incidents of misconduct. While Dr. Horri’s admission of guilt was a mitigating factor that saved the College the time and expense of a contested hearing, his disciplinary history warranted a more substantial penalty.
The Tribunal formally accepted the joint submission. A reprimand was delivered to Dr. Horri at the conclusion of the hearing. The panel ordered that his certificate of registration in Ontario be suspended for twelve months, beginning at 12:01 a.m. on June 3, 2025. Dr. Horri was also ordered to pay the $6,000 in costs to the College by July 1, 2025.
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