Dr. Rosemary Arnold: The Highland Road Kitchener Practice Verma Learned His Trade At
Dr. Rosemary Joan Arnold, a graduate of the University of Liverpool School of Medicine (1967), practised family medicine at 403 Highland Road West in Kitchener, Ontario. According to Dr. Terry Polevoy, who reported Dr. Pradeep Kumar Verma to the CPSO in the 1990s after working alongside him at the Waterloo Walk-In Clinic, Verma worked for Dr. Arnold when he first arrived in the Kitchener-Waterloo area, and it was Arnold's own patients whom Verma would later invite to follow him to the Waterloo clinic — patients Polevoy has said sometimes arrived at the shared clinic in numbers all at once.
A Shared Practice, A Shared Discipline Case
Dr. Arnold's Highland Road West office was a shared practice with her husband, Dr. Roland Arnold, also a physician. In September 1994, the Waterloo Region Record reported that both doctors had been scheduled to appear before the CPSO Discipline Committee on related charges arising from their shared practice, including improper use of the authority to prescribe or dispense a drug, failure to maintain patient records, and failure to maintain the standard of practice of the profession.
The Discipline Hearing
The Waterloo Region Record covered Dr. Arnold's CPSO discipline hearing in Toronto in detail over several days in September 1994. Testimony centred on her prescribing of narcotics: witnesses told the committee it was not unusual for Dr. Arnold to issue narcotics prescriptions to patients the same day they were seen, that she at times prescribed significant quantities to patients with a known history of drug abuse, and that some prescriptions were issued without an accompanying physical examination. College medical inspector Dr. Harold Barnett testified that Dr. Arnold appeared unable to say no to patients requesting medication, describing her as overwhelmed by drug requests from her patient population and suggesting she had let her caseload of vulnerable, often addicted patients drive her prescribing rather than clinical judgment. Other testimony before the committee addressed the broader difficulty of treating addicted patients in a general practice setting, including from witnesses who argued such patients still needed a doctor willing to see them. At least one of Dr. Arnold's own patients testified in her defence, describing her as a caring physician and calling her "a doctor and a friend" in Record coverage of the hearing; a Kitchener pharmacist also gave evidence.
In July 1996, with the discipline case still not fully resolved, the Record's editorial board criticized the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario directly over its handling of the Arnold case, arguing the College had failed to serve the public by allowing the matter to drag on. The paper reported again in April 1999 that Dr. Arnold's suspension had finally taken effect — Dr. Arnold, by then in her sixties, had appealed the original 1995 decision, and her certificate was ordered suspended unless she completed a College-mandated assessment program.
Patient Support and a Reinstatement Bid
Following her 1995 discipline finding, a group of Dr. Arnold's patients rallied publicly in support of her continuing to practise. In March 1996, the Record reported that a college committee reviewing whether Dr. Arnold could return to practice had been shown videotaped testimonials from patients speaking on her behalf, part of an organized campaign to demonstrate community support for her. Named patients and family members who appeared in Record coverage of the testimonial effort included Kelly Voigt, Rosa Trudeau, Katherine Landry, Wendy Lavigne, and Deloras Sergalis, several of whom described her as compassionate and attentive to patients other doctors had turned away.
CPSO Discipline Findings
At a hearing on September 19, 1994, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) examined Dr. Arnold's practice and, in a decision released December 19, 1995, found her guilty of professional misconduct for failing to maintain required patient records, failing to maintain the standard of practice of the profession, and for improper use of her authority to prescribe, sell, or dispense drugs — specifically including falsifying a record in respect of a prescription or the sale of a drug. The Discipline Committee separately found her incompetent, concluding she had displayed a lack of knowledge, skill, or judgment, or a disregard for patient welfare, to an extent demonstrating she was unfit to continue in practice.
The Committee reprimanded Dr. Arnold and suspended her certificate of registration for twelve months, with the suspension reducible through completion of a McMaster University physician remediation program (PREP). As a permanent condition following any reinstatement, her privileges to prescribe narcotics were ordered terminated by the Bureau of Drug Surveillance for a minimum of one year, extendable until she could demonstrate the restriction could safely be lifted; she was also required to practise only under the direct supervision of another physician, subject to unannounced College inspections of her practice and prescribing records twice a year for three years. Dr. Arnold appealed the decision; the appeal was dismissed on July 29, 1998. According to the CPSO's public register, Dr. Arnold never subsequently requested reinstatement of her narcotics-prescribing privileges, meaning that restriction remained in place for the rest of her career. She resigned her CPSO membership on July 3, 2020.
Timeline
- 1967Graduates from the University of Liverpool School of Medicine.
- 1968–1969Registers with the CPSO, moving to an Independent Practice Certificate by December 1969.
- Sep 1994Both Dr. Rosemary Arnold and her husband and practice partner, Dr. Roland Arnold, are scheduled before the CPSO Discipline Committee on related charges from their shared Highland Road West practice.
- Sep 1994Multi-day CPSO discipline hearing in Toronto; testimony focuses on her narcotics-prescribing practices, with a patient testifying in her defence.
- Dec 19, 1995Found guilty of professional misconduct and incompetence; reprimanded, suspended for 12 months, and permanently restricted from prescribing narcotics.
- Mar 1996Patients organize a testimonial campaign, including videotaped statements, urging a College review committee to let her return to practice.
- Jul 1996The Waterloo Region Record's editorial board criticizes the CPSO's handling of her case as a failure to serve the public.
- Jul 29, 1998Her appeal of the decision is dismissed.
- Apr 1999Her suspension formally takes effect, per Record coverage.
- Jul 3, 2020Resigns her CPSO membership.
- CPSO Physician Register: Arnold, Rosemary Joan — CPSO #22462 (discipline decision and registration history)
- Waterloo Region Record: "Two MDs face misconduct charges" (Susan Danard, Sep 1, 1994); "Pleading for medication: MD overwhelmed by drug requests, hearing told" (Greg Crone, Sep 21, 1994); "MD often prescribed narcotics, hearing told" (Greg Crone, Sep 20, 1994); "Doctor couldn't say no, hearing told" (Greg Crone, Sep 23, 1994); "Addicted patients need MD's help, hearing told" (Greg Crone, Sep 24, 1994); "'A doctor and a friend': Patient praises Arnold for incompetence hearing" (Greg Crone, Apr 7, 1995); "Patients back disgraced MD: Testimonials videotaped for panel deciding Arnold's future" (Catherine Thompson, Mar 20, 1996); "College of physicians ignored the public" (editorial, Jul 25, 1996); "Arnold testifies about practice" (Sep 5, 1996); "College of Physicians suspends licence of Kitchener doctor" (Apr 13, 1999)
- Dr. Terry Polevoy, QuackeryWatch.com — firsthand account of Dr. Verma's early practice at Dr. Arnold's Highland Road clinic (see the Verma case file)