A tribunal has ruled against Calgary chiropractor Dr. Curtis Wall for not masking during the pandemic..The College of Chiropractors Of Alberta (CCOA) sought to discipline Wall for not wearing a mask at his clinic, not observing two metres of social distancing while unmasked, not installing a plexiglass barrier at his reception area, and not requiring patients to be masked..In a statement the CCOA wrote, “The Hearing Tribunal has found Dr. Curtis Wall's conduct does constitute ‘unprofessional conduct’ and their decision for penalty is forthcoming..“The [CCOA]… has an obligation under the Health Professions Act to ensure the public receives safe, competent and ethical care from regulated members.”.Liberty Coalition Canada represented Wall and railed against the ruling in a February 7 email..“The decision is riddled with errors of fact and law and is so poorly decided it is an embarrassment to the chiropractic profession,” the email said..“It is shocking the lengths the tribunal went to dismiss the evidence of Dr. Wall, three of his patients, and his four expert witnesses while blithely accepting all the evidence of the College…The decision is an egregious manifestation of pre-determined, results-oriented decision-making.”.LCC lawyer James Kitchen told the Western Standard an unbiased decision based on the 1559 pages of testimony and hundreds more of evidence lends to a different conclusion..“If you would actually take the 10 hours required to read all this and comprehend it and absorb it and digest it, you would say, ‘Holy s---! Look at all the stuff they left out, look at all the inconvenient evidence that they did not include in their summaries of evidence in their decision.’”.Respirologist Dr. Bao Dang, viral immunologist Dr. Byram Bridle, infectious diseases consultant Dr. Thomas Warren, and occupational health and safety consultant Chris Schaefer testified on behalf of Wall. Schaefer said mask wearers the low oxygen levels and high carbon dioxide levels of mask wearers defied OH&S standards. Kitchen alleges the tribunal ruling misrepresents his testimony..“Schaefer was asked what when you were when you were with the College of Paramedics…would you have worn a mask to keep your license? He said, No, my health is more important. I would have given up my license. The Tribunal turns around and says all four of Dr. Wall’s experts said they would wear a mask if they had to. That's not true. Schaefer said he wouldn't. That's a pretty blatant error of fact.”.Dr. Jia Hu defended the efficacy of masks in testimony for the college. The family physician is a medical officer of health for Alberta Health Services in Calgary Zone and a clinical assistant professor at the University of Calgary. However, he admitted under cross examination that he was not a virologist, an immunologist, a respirologist, or a medical microbiologist. .Kitchen said it was “really quite a joke” that the tribunal found Hu’s testimony compelling..“The amount of retractions that he makes, the amount of times that he's caught insulting other experts. It's very juvenile. Go through my cross examination. He's really a rather lackluster witness and to prefer his evidence over the four very serious experts I had is really quite laughable.”.Penalties for Wall have not yet been decided, but Kitchen said he would appeal any suspension or financial penalty. He said a recent court precedent is on Wall’s side..“The Court of Appeal a few months ago said [to a dental] college, if you want to prosecute one of your professional members, you pay for all of it. The only way you make the professional member pay for any of it is if…this is the second or third or fourth time you've had to go after them, or some egregious situation.”.Appeals would be heard by the Council of the College which consists of five chiropractors elected by their peers and five members of the public appointed by the government. Should Wall lose there, he could take his case to the Alberta Court of Appeal..“The Court of Appeal of Alberta is one of the best in the country. They actually occasionally follow the law when it comes to rights and freedoms…The college will have spent close to half a million dollars by then, and they will not be able to recover those costs according to the change in the law. So they will spend all their members’ money persecuting this guy not wear masks, and they won't get any of it back. That'll be interesting.”.The CCA declined an interview, but said by email, “Pursuant to the Health Professions Act, all Hearing Tribunal decisions are posted publicly on the CCOA website. This is the extent of the information that the CCOA can share on behalf of the Hearing Tribunal.”
A tribunal has ruled against Calgary chiropractor Dr. Curtis Wall for not masking during the pandemic..The College of Chiropractors Of Alberta (CCOA) sought to discipline Wall for not wearing a mask at his clinic, not observing two metres of social distancing while unmasked, not installing a plexiglass barrier at his reception area, and not requiring patients to be masked..In a statement the CCOA wrote, “The Hearing Tribunal has found Dr. Curtis Wall's conduct does constitute ‘unprofessional conduct’ and their decision for penalty is forthcoming..“The [CCOA]… has an obligation under the Health Professions Act to ensure the public receives safe, competent and ethical care from regulated members.”.Liberty Coalition Canada represented Wall and railed against the ruling in a February 7 email..“The decision is riddled with errors of fact and law and is so poorly decided it is an embarrassment to the chiropractic profession,” the email said..“It is shocking the lengths the tribunal went to dismiss the evidence of Dr. Wall, three of his patients, and his four expert witnesses while blithely accepting all the evidence of the College…The decision is an egregious manifestation of pre-determined, results-oriented decision-making.”.LCC lawyer James Kitchen told the Western Standard an unbiased decision based on the 1559 pages of testimony and hundreds more of evidence lends to a different conclusion..“If you would actually take the 10 hours required to read all this and comprehend it and absorb it and digest it, you would say, ‘Holy s---! Look at all the stuff they left out, look at all the inconvenient evidence that they did not include in their summaries of evidence in their decision.’”.Respirologist Dr. Bao Dang, viral immunologist Dr. Byram Bridle, infectious diseases consultant Dr. Thomas Warren, and occupational health and safety consultant Chris Schaefer testified on behalf of Wall. Schaefer said mask wearers the low oxygen levels and high carbon dioxide levels of mask wearers defied OH&S standards. Kitchen alleges the tribunal ruling misrepresents his testimony..“Schaefer was asked what when you were when you were with the College of Paramedics…would you have worn a mask to keep your license? He said, No, my health is more important. I would have given up my license. The Tribunal turns around and says all four of Dr. Wall’s experts said they would wear a mask if they had to. That's not true. Schaefer said he wouldn't. That's a pretty blatant error of fact.”.Dr. Jia Hu defended the efficacy of masks in testimony for the college. The family physician is a medical officer of health for Alberta Health Services in Calgary Zone and a clinical assistant professor at the University of Calgary. However, he admitted under cross examination that he was not a virologist, an immunologist, a respirologist, or a medical microbiologist. .Kitchen said it was “really quite a joke” that the tribunal found Hu’s testimony compelling..“The amount of retractions that he makes, the amount of times that he's caught insulting other experts. It's very juvenile. Go through my cross examination. He's really a rather lackluster witness and to prefer his evidence over the four very serious experts I had is really quite laughable.”.Penalties for Wall have not yet been decided, but Kitchen said he would appeal any suspension or financial penalty. He said a recent court precedent is on Wall’s side..“The Court of Appeal a few months ago said [to a dental] college, if you want to prosecute one of your professional members, you pay for all of it. The only way you make the professional member pay for any of it is if…this is the second or third or fourth time you've had to go after them, or some egregious situation.”.Appeals would be heard by the Council of the College which consists of five chiropractors elected by their peers and five members of the public appointed by the government. Should Wall lose there, he could take his case to the Alberta Court of Appeal..“The Court of Appeal of Alberta is one of the best in the country. They actually occasionally follow the law when it comes to rights and freedoms…The college will have spent close to half a million dollars by then, and they will not be able to recover those costs according to the change in the law. So they will spend all their members’ money persecuting this guy not wear masks, and they won't get any of it back. That'll be interesting.”.The CCA declined an interview, but said by email, “Pursuant to the Health Professions Act, all Hearing Tribunal decisions are posted publicly on the CCOA website. This is the extent of the information that the CCOA can share on behalf of the Hearing Tribunal.”
