Ronak Kotecha

This matter came before a Panel of the Discipline Committee on August 9, 2005

Background
Mr. Kotecha is an occupational therapist registered with the College. At the time of the incident he was practising in the Niagara region. In March 2004 he was terminated from his employment due to issues of professional misconduct and his employer filed a mandatory report with the College. An extensive investigation was carried out at the end of which the Executive Committee referred the matter to the Discipline Committee for a hearing. Prior to the hearing date, a pre hearing conference was held during which Mr. Kotecha agreed that his actions constituted professional misconduct. In addition, the College and Mr. Kotecha were able to negotiate a penalty which was confirmed as being appropriate by the College's Executive Committee. The parties agreed that the penalty recognized the mitigating factors in the case, the need to address the issue of deterrence and provide for rehabilitation. The panel concluded that the proposed penalty was reasonable and in the public interest.

A Summary of the Allegations and Agreed Facts
Mr. Kotecha:

was persistently late in his documentation. At one point he had 70+ outstanding charts to complete.
completed his charts late, he did not indicate that he was making late entries to the charts and sometimes discarded the only notes he made contemporaneous with the visit.
did not leave a Vacation Transfer Form with his employer when he went on vacation.
was frequently late in communications
was sometimes late in following up on the communication and services for his clients.
failed to complete and submit his response to a complaints matter before the College in a timely manner and to provide a copy of that response to the employer as requested. Further, the response was back dated.
rewrote his notes after the complaint came in, destroyed his original notes, did not indicate that he had done so, and submitted them to the College. Further, he later admitted doing so but stated that his professional practice leader was aware that he had done so. This latter statement to the College representative was false.
suggested he returned documents to a client when in fact he did not return the documents for many weeks or even months afterwards.
made false or misleading statements to his employer or concealed his actions from his employer.

The Member's Plea
Mr. Kotecha admitted the allegations and the fact that his conduct constituted professional misconduct.

Decision
The Panel agreed that Mr. Kotecha's conduct constituted professional misconduct.

Penalty and Costs
Counsel for the College advised the panel that a Joint Submission on Order had been agreed upon. The Joint Submission on Order is as follows:

The Discipline Panel orders that the certificate of registration of Mr. Kotecha be suspended for a period of six months commencing on the date of this order.
The Discipline Panel orders that three months of the suspension shall, itself be suspended and shall only be served if Mr. Kotecha fails to comply with the remainder of this order.
The Discipline Panel orders that it be a term, condition and limitation upon the certificate of registration of Mr. Kotecha that Mr. Kotecha practice under the supervision of an occupational therapist acceptable to the Registrar who will provide reports acceptable to the Registrar for a period of actual practice of two years after completion of the suspension. Mr. Kotecha shall ensure that the supervising occupational therapist provide to the Registrar a written report, acceptable to the Registrar, about the performance of Mr. Kotecha. The Registrar may, after one year, determine that the reports indicate that the second year of supervision is no longer necessary in the public interest in which case this provision will not apply for the second year. Terms, conditions and limitations of this paragraph shall be removed when reports under this paragraph are no longer required. The latter statement was added at the request of the panel.
The Discipline Panel orders that it be a term, condition and limitation upon the certificate of registration of Mr. Kotecha that Mr. Kotecha not supervise other occupational therapists or students for a period of actual practice of one year after completion of the suspension.
The Discipline Panel orders that Mr. Kotecha appear before a panel of the Discipline Committee to be reprimanded and that the fact of such a reprimand be recorded in the public portion of the register.
The Discipline Panel orders that Mr. Kotecha pay to the College $1,500 towards the costs and expenses of investigating and prosecuting this matter, payable in six equal monthly instalments commencing the sixth month after the date of this order.

The panel acknowledges the following mitigating factors (1) Mr. Kotecha was suffering from personal issues; (2) the false and misleading statements were a result of Mr. Kotecha trying to catch up on his work and being too embarrassed to tell his employer (3) Mr. Kotecha was candid and forthright with his employer and he was cooperative and honest with the College (4) this was Mr. Kotecha's first finding of professional misconduct and (5) Mr. Kotecha has exhibited remorse for his actions as well as insight into his behaviour and conduct in this matter.

In addition to appearing on the website, this summary will be available in the annual report. Please feel free to contact the Manager of Investigations & Resolutions should you require additional information.