Alberta doctor suspended for professional misconduct

Article content

An Alberta family physician has been suspended for performing invasive procedures at a location not registered by the province’s health authority and for bringing “soiled” equipment from her veterinary clinic into her human clinic.

Dr. Gina Arps also “failed to be candid” about storing Botox and performing injections — suggesting they were for migraine treatments.

Article content

Arps accepted those allegations and many others presented during a College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta (CPSA) tribunal hearing regarding professional misconduct alleged to have occurred between 2021 and 2022. During that time, she performed procedures on 9 patients, contravening restrictions on her practice instituted in 2017.

“Dr. Arps violated restrictions placed on her practice permit in 2017 by performing invasive and sensitive procedures and examinations, and providing injections to patients at a location that was not an Alberta Health Services (AHS) facility,” the CPSA wrote in a statement.

“According to the evidence, these breaches were ongoing from 2016 to October 2022 despite several attempts by the CPSA to provide Dr. Arps with guidance, education and remediation,” reads the Oct. 18 decision.

Meanwhile, the Alberta Veterinary Medical Association told the National Post via email that Arps’ vet practice is under review and has been suspended since November 2022.

Article content

Article content

“The review is being conducted In Camera; therefore, the ABVMA is unable to provide further comment at this time,” a spokesperson wrote.

According to the ABVMA 2023 directory, Arps is a graduate of Western College of Veterinary Medicine and established a clinic in Westlock, north of Edmonton, in 1988. In 2023, she was among a lengthy list of vets to receive 35-year recognition award.

Infections and inspections

The redacted tribunal decision does not name Arps’ medical clinic, the non-AHS location or her veterinary clinic.

According to the CPSA website, Arps attended the University of Alberta’s medical school and began her three-year residency in 2001.

A LinkedIn profile under the same name lists that school and specifies a rural family medicine residency with a third year in general practitioner surgery and obstetrics.

Places of employment include Associate Medical Clinic & Rural Renewal Medispa & Esthetics, both in Westlock, Alta., but both located at different addresses in the town. When the National Post contacted the Medispa, a recording noted it was closed and unsure of when it would reopen. Patients were referred to another doctor.

Article content

When contacted, staff at the clinic said Arps no longer worked there and hasn’t for some time.

Healthdoc.ca also lists Arps as a family doctor in Westlock at the same address as the Medispa. It says she is rated as one of the top family physicians in town and is currently accepting new patients.

Many of the same facts are supported in a now-missing background for Dr. Gina Arps on the website for Edmonton’s Zia Medical & Women’s Health. It described her as a “highly experienced physician with over 23 years of expertise in family medicine, (general practitioner) surgery, and obstetrics.”

In an effort to contact Arps for comment, the National Post contacted Zia and confirmed she is employed there.

Regarding her practice in Westlock, the site said she focused on “women’s health, offering services such as cesarean sections, tubal ligations, hormonal therapy, intrauterine device insertions (IUD), and cosmetic procedures including Botox and PRP injections.”

The latter — platelet-rich procedures, a therapy that involves injecting the patient’s own blood into injured or diseased areas of the body in an effort to speed up healing — is what first put Arps on the CPSA’s radar in 2016.

Article content

At the time, an investigation prompted by two patients who reported infections after receiving the invasive procedure at the redacted location uncovered “evidence of serious and repeated deficiencies” that did not meet the CPSA standards of practice and broke the membership rules.

An interim agreement in November 2017 restricted Arps from performing further PRPs or any of the women’s health services mentioned above anywhere but within an Alberta Health Services-regulated facility.

In October 2020, as COVID-19 was evolving rapidly and Arps was about to enter a review program to resolve the 2017 complaints, the decision notes CPSA and AHS conducted an “unannounced inspection” of the redacted location following two more complaints about “infection prevention and control issues.”

Authorities noted a lack of administrative controls, problems with PPE and hand hygiene devices, deficiencies in medication storage, handling and safety, and “identified multiple infractions… including several previously identified issues of concern.”

Arps was instructed to take corrective measures.

Article content

‘Soiled’ veterinary equipment

Almost two years later to the day, in October 2022, CPSA and AHS inspectors made another unannounced visit to the redacted location, finding “critical infection and control deficiencies.”

They also found that “patient records and the presence of vaginal insertion devices, an IV infusion bag, a Hologic specimen collection kit and rapid test throat swabs among other items indicated Dr. Arps was performing invasive procedures in breach of practice restrictions.”

Other allegations against Arps stemming from that inspection included that she kept expired drugs and medical products in her clinic; added handwritten expiry dates to disinfectant containers; and stored loaded needles along with Botox and Lidocaine in a refrigerator without a temperature monitoring device.