ESTEVAN - The licence of Estevan physician Dr. Mehdi Horri is still suspended.
According to Bryan Salte, the associate registrar and legal counsel with the Saskatchewan College of Physicians and Surgeons, the college’s council met on Jan. 27 and 28, “considered all of the information” and concluded that it would try to work towards some additional safeguards that would allow Horri to return to practice.
“We will be working with Dr. Horri and his legal counsel over the next period of time to try to put something like that in place,” said Salte. “Until such time as that occurs, he will be suspended and it will be subject to the executive committee or the council reviewing and proving what the details are of arrangements that can be put in place.”
He did not go into further details about possible arrangements because of the possibility of further negotiations. It’s not known how long it will take to reach an arrangement that can be submitted to the executive committee before Horri can return to practice.
“Sometimes discussions go smoothly. Sometimes they don’t. It will be a matter of discussion between Dr. Horri and us to try to see if we can reach an understanding that is reasonable to be submitted to the executive committee,” said Salte.
Salte noted there are two complainants in this situation. When Horri’s licence was suspended on Jan. 11, it was noted there was one complainant, stemming from an examination that Horri performed.
Horri has been in Estevan since 2012, making him one of the longest-serving physicians in the community.
His licence was revoked by the college for nine months in Saskatchewan in 2017 and 2018, after a similar action was taken by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario. Horri was found guilty of engaging in a sexual relationship with a patient too soon after the termination of the doctor-patient relationship. Horri was still practising in Ontario when it occurred.
Ever since Horri’s licence was reinstated in June 2018, he is required to have a chaperone present during all interactions with female patients. The information presented to the college’s executive council recently is that was not happening.
Also, in 2020, Horri pleaded guilty to five charges under the Medical Profession Act for unprofessional conduct. He was suspended for four months. Four of those charges occurred in 2017 prior to his licence being revoked in Saskatchewan, and the other charge was from 2018, shortly after he was reinstated.
After the suspension was announced in January, many people took to social media to voice support for Horri.
