Brandon Harder
Regina Leader-Post
Regina doctor James Coruzzi has been penalized by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan (CPSS) after admitting to six charges of unprofessional conduct.
The charges were brought on Sept. 27, 2025 by the CPSS, which regulates the practice of medicine in the province. They included assertions that Coruzzi improperly prescribed and obtained medication for his own use.
According to the CPSS, Coruzzi admitted to the charges and a penalty was imposed on March 27, 2026.
A document outlining the penalty states Coruzzi’s licence to practice medicine is suspended for six months, retroactive to Nov. 7, 2025.
Further, he is to receive a reprimand and must complete a course in ethics within six months before providing proof of completion.
Coruzzi must also pay costs associated with the investigation and hearing in the amount of $12,711.35. He’ll be suspended again if he doesn’t pay by May 7, 2027 and would remain suspended until he does, according to the document.
It also notes that the CPSS has accepted an undertaking signed by Coruzzi on March 23, 2026 which “outlines several ongoing requirements.”
In this context, an undertaking is a kind of written commitment. The document does not specify what ongoing requirements are outlined in Coruzzi’s undertaking.
The six aforementioned charges against the doctor carried dates that ranged from 2023 to 2025.
The first of these stated he breached an undertaking to not prescribe a certain medication by prescribing it and then obtaining it for his own use.
The second charge stated he breached a different undertaking in arranging for other physicians to prescribe medication which he obtained for his own use.
The third charge stated he prescribed medication to individuals without evaluating them, seeing them in a patient-physician interaction, or creating a record of attendance. He had personal relationships with these people, according to the charge document.
A fourth charge states he prescribed medication to seven individuals which on “many of the occasions” he intended to and did obtain for his own use.
A fifth charge stated that he approached physicians he knew as colleagues or friends and asked them to prescribe monitored medication to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship.
“You asked the physicians to prescribe for the individuals without the individuals being present to be assessed,” the charge stated. “You provided false or misleading information to the physicians relating to the individuals’ circumstances.”
Coruzzi also arranged to obtain this medication for his own use, according to the charge.
A sixth charge stated that he prescribed or arranged for others to prescribe monitored medication to individuals which he obtained or intended to obtain for his own use.
The sixth charge also stated that — on one or more occasions — he obtained this medication without paying the full cost or “exercising due diligence to ensure the individual had not obtained the medication through their own insurance coverage.”
According to information on the CPSS website, Coruzzi received his medical degree from the National University of Ireland in 2008. The site lists his place of employment as the Regina General Hospital emergency department.
The CPSS website does not mention any previous discipline history.
While the site lists a previous voluntary withdrawal from practice, it now lists his licence status as suspended.
bharder@postmedia.com
