The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan is reviewing whether a former physician who has taken his medical opinions to YouTube is practicing without a license.
“With any individual, what we have to do is look at it and say, is it a provable case of practicing medicine without a license,” college associate registrar Bryan Salte told CTV News.
On a YouTube channel called Pinky and the Doc, Josias Furstenberg shares medical information and health advice, saying he is a medical doctor qualified in South Africa and Canada. He says his videos are only for educational purposes.
Last year Furstenberg was stripped of his medical license and his Prince Albert practice was shut down following 10 charges of unprofessional conduct, including having sexual relationships with multiple patients.
Posting videos on medical topics is not illegal – the issue is whether the person is offering to provide a medical service and is identifying as a licensed physician while doing so, Salte said.
The Medical Profession Act states that a person cannot lead the public to believe they are licensed physician when they are not, and that person without a license cannot diagnose and treat individual patients.
If the college believes it’s a provable infraction, it will inform the person and consider the case closed if they stop. The college has also prosecuted people in some cases, Salte said.
“It’s really in the context of offering specific services to specific people that this is the issue.”
