Dr. Gina Arps fined for professional misconduct related to procedures performed outside a regulated setting and failing ‘to be candid’ with investigators
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.
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Dr. Gina Arps also “failed to be candid” about storing Botox and performing injections — suggesting they were for migraine treatments.
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.
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.
“The review is being conducted In Camera; therefore, the ABVMA is unable to provide further comment at this time,” a spokesperson wrote.
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.
When contacted, staff at the clinic said Arps no longer worked there and hasn’t for some time.
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.
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.
‘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.
In addition to noting Arps’ office was disorganized and unsanitary, investigators accused Arps of “processing soiled equipment” from her vet practice at the clinic where she treated people, and that she employed “sharps used on human patients” on animals at the vet’s office.
Investigators also alleged Arps wasn’t honest about having Botox or how it was being used, finding evidence that injections likely weren’t for treating migraines, as she claimed, but for “cosmetic applications.”
CPSA restricted her permit in December 2022 and she underwent a disciplinary assessment in March 2023 which “determined that she was not fit to return to practice at that time.” Another assessment in August cleared her to return, though as of the tribunal date, Arps’ lawyer noted her client hadn’t practiced in “approximately one year.”
The tribunal handed down a nine-month sentence, but gave Arps six months credit for the time she’s been out of practice since 2022, leaving her with three months to serve according to the CPSA.
She’s also on the hook for half of the investigation’s cost, up to a max of $15,000, which won’t have to be repaid until she returns to practice, per the decision.
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