Yazdanfar surrenders license

December 21, 2011 - Toronto - Behnaz Yazdanfar has finally been stripped of her medical license in Ontario, Canada. Unfortunately, the CPSO has given her another chance after the two-year suspension. The recent press coverage has been enormous. Nearly every major newspaper and media outlet has carried the story. Their web site for the TCC has still not published the story as requested by the CPSO.

Michele Mandel's column in Toronto SUN - December 21, 2011

Doc in lipo death gets off lightly

TORONTO - A little boy left without his mother sends balloons to heaven with notes hoping she’s okay. And the unqualified cosmetic surgeon who cost his mom her life? Dr. Behnaz Yazdanfar has just been suspended for two years and banned from ever operating alone again.

But she can apply to be reinstated after a year and when she does get her licence back, she can still be a surgical assistant. It hardly seems punishment enough. Ensuring she never practises again was the penalty advocated by the lawyer for the College of Physicians and Surgeons.

It was also the sentence sought by the little boy’s father and the rest of the family of his late mom, Krista Stryland. “When (my son) grows up,” the dad wrote in his victim impact statement, “I want to be able to look him in the eye, explain to him what happened and let him know that although this was a terrible, tragic loss, the system did not fail him in how it dealt with these doctors.” He hoped for too much.

• Google News
• Yahoo News
• Download full CPSO disciplinary decision in .pdf

The TCCLINIC.COM web site makes no mention of Yazdanfar unless you looked at the cached archives or some of the old pictures.

If you use the Google search term "site:tcclinic.com yazdanfar" and go to the cached version you can still see the original ads in Elevate Magazine where she claims to be a cosmetic surgeon.

There are two certified plastic surgeons who are listed on their web site. The CPSO had demanded that Yazdanfar's story be placed on their web site. So far this has not happened.

Yazdanfar, the original "owner" of the clinic, could still be the owner of the clinic. IF she is, then she can still be operating the clinic without actually having a medical license. I don't believe that the CPSO has the power to stop her. We also do not know if her husband has any interest in the company. Were the assets sold-off to the new doctors?

The TCC is still advertising as if nothing ever happened there. The same device used in the deadly tragedy involving Ms. Stryland is still on their procedures or services pages. They are still doing breast implants and other surgical interventions.

Did the Ministry of Health actually approve the clinic?

Does the CPSO intend to inspect the clinic in the future?

Stay tuned for further developments.

BTW - There is still a civil lawsuit against Yazdanfar and the clinic.

Yazdanfar disciplinary hearing before the CPSO

On July 13, 2009 Dr. Behnaz Yazdanfar's disciplinary hearing began before the CPSO in Toronto. It is now July 23, 2010 and the hearing has been going on for over one year.

Christie Blatchford  - Globe and Mail attacks the CPSO and Yazdanfar

• Disciplinary hearing shows the ugly side of cosmetic surgery - July 23, 2010
  
• Defence suggests doctor victim of witch hunt in liposuction death - July 22, 2010
  
• Prosecution portrays stunning failures in liposuction death - July 21, 2010
  
• Complaint against lipsuction doctor was a perceptive warning - July 14, 2010
  

Robert Cribb - Toronto Star - July 24, 2010

• Lipo death puts cosmetic surgery under microscope
  Medical watchdog to make crucial judgment on professional standards
  

For the latest news and commentary please use the following searches:

1. Globe and Mail
   
2. Google News
3. Topix.ca
4. Toronto Star
5. National Post

I'm not listing the Toronto SUN's web site because this organization helped to promote Dr. Yazdanfar's clinic over the years.

1. TCC's web site announcing their Award
2. The SUN's Consumer's Choice Award 2008

Yazdanfar's lawyers appeal quashed to remove license restrictions

Yazdanfar's legal team filed a lawsuit in Superior Court in Toronto to remove any restrictions imposed on her license following the disciplinary hearings. She lost the appeal and had to pay $10,500 in court costs.

• Full text of Appeal

HPARB rejects complaint

HPARB (Health Professions Appeal and Review Board), Ontario's agency that listens to public complaints about the shortcomings of the various regulatory bodies for health professionals has rejected a complaint that was filed against the CPSO (College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario) way back in 2006. The original complaint from a medical doctor in Ontario back in November 2006 went nowhere. It was appealed to HPARB and sat on their desk for months until April 11, 2008 when the appeal was heard before three members of their Board.

The case # 9050 - There is no record of this anywhere in any Canadian legal database. We don't know why.

HPARB sat on it until March 23, 2009 to render a decision. If you want to see a full copy of their decision contact us directly.

Here is what they had to say:

"..the Board confirms the decision of the Complaints Committee to take no further action in relation to the complaint, but recommends that the College consider whether a licensed family physician whose practice is cosmetic medicine be required to use, when set forth credentials, clear language to convey that he or she is a licensed as a family physician."

This basically lets Yazdanfar off the hook. She is still basically practicing as she was before, with only minor changes to her own web site.

In April 2007 the CPSO initiated a new policy called the Cosmetic Procedures Initiative: Steps to Improve Patient Safety - Implementation of four-point plan to ensure public safety.

You can follow the links to various efforts that they have made. Whether or not anybody is going to be taken to task for not complying is yet to be seen.

One of these is from the Council Updates in April 2008.

"Council approved regulation amendments that will require physicians to be clear and accurate about their credentials and training in their advertising and other communications with patients."

Did Yazdanfar do anything to adhere to these updates?

She and her husband continue to operate their TCC and issue press releases as if nothing has happened. She still says this about herself:

"Dr. Behnaz Yazdanfar is a premier Toronto doctor based in North York, Ontario, Canada. Leading a dedicated and professional staff at Toronto Cosmetic Clinic, she focuses on surgical and non-surgical cosmetic surgery procedures, having performed cosmetic procedures since the year 2000. She frequently performs breast augmentation and liposuction, as well as several other aesthetic procedures."

Of course there is no mention of Krista Stryland or the lawsuit.

If you are upset about this, talk to your MPP to the Ontario legislature. HPARB has basically rubber-stamped whatever the CPSO did. The public has no redress.