The Persecution of Dr John Orpin

Dr. John Orpin's ordeal lingers as a cautionary tale 

of what can happen to doctors who treat depression aggressively.

Dr John Orpin's licence to practice Medicine was removed in 1989 by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) ostensibly because he had a relationship with a former female patient, who was in fact also a graduate counselling student at his clinic learning group therapy techniques.  The real reason was that they wanted to remove him because he was a Holistic Alternative Family Medicine practitioner and was the director of one of Canada's first Holistic Health and Pain clinics, the Glebe Wellness Centre in Ottawa, the nation's capital. In addition to using Abreaction, Dianetics, Radionics, Acupuncture, Reiki, Magnetic Fields,  Psycholytic drugs such as Nitrous Oxide and Ketamine and other heretical methods, he carried out heroic, radical and experimental Primal Therapy and Psychodrama  techniques for suicidal, borderline and schizophrenic patients; techniques which which have been described fully in the medical literature and which were distasteful to the medical establishment.  Apparently he should have referred them to experts for hospitalisation and Electric Convulsive Treatment or prescribed powerful anti-psychotic drugs.

John subsequently suffered 15 years of persecution, false arrests, a trial that was later declared by the Ontario Court of Appeal to have been blatently unjust and judicially corrupt.  He was never found guilty of any crime. Former borderline patients from the 1970's and 1980's were interviewed in the 1990's by the CPSO interrogators who implanted false impressions into their vulnerable minds.  They were offered money ($10,000 each) and intimidated into making distorted and false claims against him.  Prior to treatment, Dr Orpin gave all patients relevant research literature (1, 2, 3 below) to read and had them sign a legal consent document to undergo the above unconventional therapies. Two of these former patients later used by the CPSO had given him book gifts as expressions of gratitude on completing treatment and all had signed an attendance book with record of satisfaction after each visit. Since these allegations surfaced many years after expiry of his legal obligation to retain records, he was unable to present an adequate defence.

His persecution has been further exacerbated by attacks and false statements from websites funded by Scientology which he joined in the 1980's because of his appreciation of the philosophy of Dianetics but later abandoned.

Two other doctors (Dr R.L. and Dr S.W.) who supported John Orpin have had their licences unfairly suspended.  Many other unconventional doctors have suffered similar unfair persecution at the hands of the CPSO. One Toronto doctor (Dr D.C.) has accused the CPSO of "conspiracy and deceit" in removing his licence and is currently suing the CPSO for $40 million and recently won his appeal against the CPSO (6). A court found the CPSO to have "defied provincial law, flouted its own testing rules, then breached the rules of natural justice".  Another doctor (Dr. Felix Ravikovich) was persecuted for using histamines in treating asthma.  

Link:  "Governing bodies have tried to stop successful doctors from practising" 

References:

1. "Roots of Psychotherapy" by Dr Carl Whitaker and Dr Thomas Malone, Brunner/Mazel.1981, ISBN 0-87630-265-7 on use of force in psychotherapy.

2. "Direct Analysis" by Dr N. Rosen. On use of force and restraint in psychotherapy.

3. "Primal Scream" by Dr Arthur Janov.  On theatrical re-experiencing of old traumatic experiences (psychodrama).

4. "Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, a Handbook of Dianetic Procedure" by L. Ron Hubbard, 1950, (on Memory Chains and Engrams)

5. "The Kafkaesque Conviction of Dr. Jozef Krop; another case of CPSO misconduct" at http://oldfraser.lexi.net/publications/forum/1999/03/dr_krop.html

6. Support of Dr Krop against CPSO persecution at http://www.ccmadoctors.ca/support_letter.htm

7. CPSO found guilty of illegal activity, breaches of natural justice rules, unfairly targeting doctor.  Court orders CPSO to pay $15,000 in costs at http://www.medicalpost.com/mpcontent/article.jsp?content=20040503_190815_6100

8. "Is the College of Physicians and Surgeons persecuting alternative health practitioners?"  BY BRUCE LIVESEY at http://www.taxtyranny.ca/images/HTML/Codex/Codex/Articles/ontariocollegemds.html

9. The persecution of Dr. Felix Ravikovic at November 23, 2004 issue http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/ in which Toronto lawyer Matthew Wilton said "the college is a roadblock to alternative treatments".

10. CPSO review process "amounts to blackmail,  grossly & fundamentally flawed" at http://www.nationalreviewofmedicine.com/issue/2004_04_30/government_medicine03_09.html

11. "Health alternatives under the gun: Is Ontario's College of Physicians and Surgeons persecuting alternative health practitioners?"  at http://www.straightgoods.com/item404.shtml

12. The widow of an Ontario pediatrician, Dr Hsu, who is believed to have killed himself after being audited by the CPSO for his billings pleaded Monday for an end to what critics call the persecution of honest doctors who was tormented by an ``unjust and tyrannical'' system, at http://www.cofp.com/media/hsu-cpress01.asp

13. Further evidence of regulatory malpractice at bites.htm

14. "Perceptions can be manipulated by expectations"  "People think that sights, sounds and touch from the outside world constitute reality. But the brain constructs what it perceives based on past experience", Dr. Stephen M. Kosslyn, a neuroscientist at Harvard at http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/22/science/22hypno.html?pagewanted=1&th&emc=th  

15. http://www.medicalpost.com/mpcontent/article.jsp?content=20050605_190644_2852  June 2005 article Re: Dr. Donald Chong, (The court also ruled that the CPSO was unfair when it refused to provide evidence)

16. http://www.davidbcousins.com/news.html   In-depth article Re: Dr. Chong (The court quashed the decision to impose conditions on Dr. Chong's licence, and ordered the CPSO to pay $15,000 in costs).

Resume:

John was a clinical teacher at the Faculty of Medicine, Univ. of Toronto in the 1960's and 70's.  He taught Medical Electronics at Ryerson College, at University of Ottawa and at University of Waterloo. He was a medical scientist in Public Health for 10 years on the staff of the Government of Canada's  Environmental Health Protection Branch, where he was responsible for hospital safety.  He has been an Emergency Dept. physician and taught courses on cardio-pulmonary resuscitation.

John has 5 university degrees: 

1. Bachelor of Medicine (M.B.), 

2. Bachelor of Surgery (Ch.B.) , 

3. Masters degree in Biophysics (Imperial College, University of London, UK), 

4. Bachelor of Science in Electron Physics, (University of Toronto)

5. Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) in Alternative Medicine from the “Open International University of Complementary Medicines” of Sri Lanka in 1990.

John is also a graduate of the following programs

He was a student of  Psychosynthesis, Dianetics, Focussing, Creation Spirituality (Matthew Fox), Buddhism, Hinduism, Bahai, Kabbalah, Gnosticism, Course in Miracles, Celestine Prophecy, the Bible, Quantum Physics, String Theory, Kundalini, Tantra, Radionics, Acupuncture, Homeopathy, Jungian Psychology, Applied Kinesiology (Dr David Hawkins). 

He is a current member of

American Holistic Medical Association,

American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine,

The Society of NLP

World Organization of Natural Medical Practitioners (WONMP), accredited with the American Naturopathic Association

John can be reached at (905) 827-9448