Premier Doug Ford's government has appointed Dr. Jeffrey Turnbull to inspect the major hospital network in Mississauga, where leadership has been alleged to have mistreated doctors.

The government sought to assign an inspector to Trillium Health Partners for an up-to five-week-long investigation about a month ago. Health Minister Sylvia Jones has chosen Turnbull, a veteran physician with a breadth of experience in senior positions, as its inspector, her office told QP Briefing on Monday.

Turnbull has served as vice-dean of medical education at the University of Ottawa, president of the Medical Council of Canada, president of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, president of the Canadian Medical Association, senior medical officer for Correction Services Canada, and chief-of-staff at the Ottawa Hospital.

He will be tasked with inspecting Trillium Health Partners, where at least twice within the last year, lawyers representing anonymous physicians have alleged in letters that its leadership has been abusive towards physicians. This allegedly includes intimidating staff, threatening to suspend them or report them to their regulatory colleges, and publicly shaming them.

The hospital has denied the allegations.

The concerns also include a potential conflict of interest involving cabinet secretary Michelle DiEmanuele, who is on leave as CEO of the hospital as she serves as the province's top bureaucrat. CTV has reported that the hospital network's former finance director alleged in a lawsuit she was fired after raising questions about "a multi-million dollar contract" between Trillium Health Partners and a procurement company run by DiEmanuele's husband.

The Public Hospitals Act gives the health minister the power to appoint hospital inspectors. The Ministry of Health told the Toronto Star in early June that it was going to appoint one at Trillium Health Partners.

An inspector can be assigned to investigate any of a hospital network's operations, the Public Hospitals Act states. The health minister could also ask for the inspector to submit to her a written report about what they uncover.

Only the health minister can publish the report. Before doing so, all personal health information would have to be removed.

The inspector can't disclose or discuss their findings outside of communications with the health minister or Ministry of Health staff. Jones' spokesperson wouldn't say whether the health minister would commit to releasing any report submitted by Turnbull.

Turnbull will be paid up to $50,000 for his work, at a rate of $2,000/day.

On its website, Trillium Health Partners said it first received a letter containing allegations made against its leadership from Ontario Health, a government agency, in January 2022.

A few weeks later, after conducting an internal review, Nicole Vaz, the hospital network's vice-president, general counsel and chief compliance officer, refuted those allegations in a report. A partially-redacted version of her report was published on the hospital network's website in June. It describes the allegations in the first letter.

The same lawyer sent a second letter containing more allegations, again on behalf of anonymous physicians at Trillium Health Partners, to the government in late May, according to Christine Magee, the chair of the hospital network's board of directors.

QP Briefing hasn't seen the original copies of the letters containing the allegations and was unable to reach a lawyer representing the physicians alleging the mistreatment on Monday.

Magee said in a letter of her own that was published on Trillium Health Partners' website that the hospital network was made aware of the second letter documenting additional allegations for the first time when journalists contacted it for comment.

Magee said in her letter to Tara Wilson, the Ministry of Health's hospitals director, that Trillium Health Partners had been told the ministry was conducting its own review, which it invited.

Magee's letter, dated June 13, also said that Trillium Health Partners hadn't received the complaints through "any of the numerous channels available."

On its website, Trillium Health Partners says Vaz's initial investigation was "limited by the information provided in the (first) letter," and restricted by not knowing which physicians were behind the allegations. Further review may uncover more, its site adds.

"We welcome this additional review and opportunity to receive and act on any recommendations that come from it," the hospital network's site says.

Trillium Health Partners employs almost 13,000 staff at its three locations, which include the Credit Valley Hospital, the Mississauga Hospital and the Queensway Health Centre. It serves over 1.7 million patients each year, making it "one of the largest community hospital systems in Canada," a Health Ministry press release says.

Decorated doc to inspect Mississauga hospitals where leadership alleged to have mistreated staff

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