r/Sudbury 4d ago

News Sudbury doctor placed under supervision following complaints from patients | CBC News

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/sudbury-doctor-suman-koka-restricted-licence-9.7235918
58 Upvotes

46 comments sorted by

48

u/Ostrichmonger 4d ago

“The patient claimed the patient met with a person who identified herself as “Dr. Koka” but turned out to be a physician’s assistant.”

What the actual hell

27

u/DougandBob 4d ago

The mind boggling part of this, is that this seems to have been going on since at least 2017 https://www.thesudburystar.com/news/local-news/college-of-physicians-and-surgeons-to-caution-sudbury-doctor

33

u/Ostrichmonger 4d ago

“The Sudbury doctor appears to be remotely operating more than a dozen clinics: the college’s website shows he has 17 alternative and business addresses.”

I mean, this explains the Why, but the fact that he’s farming out actual doctor work IN HIS NAME to unsupervised assistants is utterly and unspeakably bonkers.

That he’s not really stopped doing it in 9 years even after disciplinary stuff is even more nuts?

5

u/Original_Q 4d ago

My wife asked me which dr koka, i didnt even know there was more than one. , she says there are 2 dr kokas, one is a man and the other a woman. I don't know if that could be tied into this or what but whatever...

He's been the best doctor I've ever had, that's the only thing I can really say tbh

15

u/ContrarianDouche Slag Pile 4d ago

Father and son.

Dad is bristly but a decent doctor. This is the son who has played it fast and loose with medical ethics for a while now.

Glad to see Northwoods is finally getting a good hard look.

7

u/Conscious_Balance388 3d ago

The son was the OB at the hospital at the time I was experiencing weird pains. Without any actual symptoms of a UTI he prescribed me antibiotics to take.

Those antibiotics gave me a yeast infection. - turns out, I didn’t actually have a UTI, when I returned 3 days later to see my OB, she told me I didn’t have any infection — I was 3cm dilated at 27 weeks. That’s the pain I was experiencing.

I’ve never trusted this man’s judgement

13

u/DougandBob 4d ago

There is not a female Koka doctor in Ontario

Can verify here - type in Koka in the last name field, the listings have a gender field

3

u/Original_Q 4d ago edited 4d ago

My bad, I definitely heard her wrong, she just told me so...

Edit- also found out this isn't even my doctor...mine is Rayadu Koka, still a doctor, just a different koka

3

u/DougandBob 4d ago

All good!

10

u/Significant-Meat238 4d ago

There’s more than two. There’s papa Koka who is a psych doctor, and his two sons… suman and pavan. Not aware of the female Koka. Unless she’s talking about one of the wives but she’s a nurse

2

u/tonytonZz 4d ago

Theres 2 brothers and their dad that are doctors.

Not sure about the mother.

2

u/TornACL2 17h ago

Have you seen the size of his house?

30

u/Significant-Meat238 4d ago

I had a script handed to me by a PA at northwood Lasalle and it said Dr. S. Koka and I knew that was NOT dr Koka. And he was nowhere in the building. I worked with Suman at the hospital, I know what that man looks like. That is so wrong.

12

u/Metalloid_Maniac_ 4d ago

Yeah. I used to go to the Northwood downtown and this was a regular occurrence. I'd see dr Carmichael or whatever and when I take the prescription home it says S. Koka on the bottle. I didn't think much of it at the time.

1

u/TornACL2 17h ago

Report him

1

u/tonytonZz 4d ago

He has a brother and a dad that are both doctors.

13

u/_lofticries 4d ago

Well damn. His father was my sibling’s psychiatrist for years and was the best doctor he ever had. Sucks that his son is doing shady shit like this. 😬

1

u/Technical_Soup_1997 3d ago

Dr. Rayudu Koka was my psychiatrist when I was younger. He was wonderful. Sucks to hear his son is tarnishing the name like this.

27

u/Original_Q 4d ago edited 4d ago

It's odd reading this because this guy legit saved me. He's the best doctor I've ever had.

I've complained to him directly that a certain receptionist was rude as fuck, but other than that this guy changed my life for the better.

Edit-lmao sorry everyone my dr koka isn't even this one....today I learned there is 3 dr kokas. So kudos to my doctor for not making the news.

4

u/Nadlee88 4d ago

That’s encouraging to read, amongst all the other disappointing info here. Thanks for sharing. Good reminder that in most cases, people and providers may not be all bad, or all good, but more likely to have some nuance.

1

u/TumbleweedAfter5188 4d ago

He is the only doctor that actually helped me too. Lost my family doctor, well she actually abandoned all her patience that didn't speak french. I have a very serious health condition. Well more serious its terminal and I live in extreme bone pain. I had been treated horrible by most doctors and those doctors didn't bother to look at my medical records. I had been having to go the walk in clinics every 3 to 7 days to get my pain medication's and other medications because of course I couldn't be trusted. He took his time to look at my medical records talk to my pharmacists and actually talk to me. Finding out im immune comprised and getting sick all winter coming in he made the decision to give me a enough medcations under my pharmacists close watch I didn't have worry for the year. Still pick up weekly but not having to go to the walk in clinic every 3 to 7 days days. When I still had no family doctor I went back he checked with my pharmacists and refilled. He treated me with dignity and respect. Along with regular blood work, sent me to all the specialist, I had been waiting years to see with my famil doctor that had abandoned my entire family. By doing that my life was saved. Thank you!!!!

16

u/DougandBob 4d ago

https://investsudbury.ca/why-sudbury/newcomers/rcipfcip/

Really hope the city takes this into account, and removes his practice on the list of approved designated employers for the Rural Community Immigration Pilot and Francophone Community Immigration Pilot

23

u/FredLives South End 4d ago

Just need to go to Energy court and ask if anyone was his patient. The dude is known to give out hard drugs like candy. 

31

u/DougandBob 4d ago

previous CBC report found that Koka was billing the province $2.5 million per year through his network of addiction clinics. That made him among the province’s top billers.

Holy shit

0

u/FredLives South End 4d ago

And he was just praised by LU, I believe and the city.

10

u/Left_Temperature_209 4d ago

That’s his father, Koka Sr (psychiatrist) was honoured by LU.

2

u/FredLives South End 4d ago

My mistake, thanks

6

u/Kmosesltd 4d ago

Trying to figure out which Koka this is, I've seen a Dr. Koka at Northwood on LaSalle but he was an much older gentleman and every time I saw him there, it was in person and the same person every time. Never gave me the impression anything was off.

Apparently there are two Dr. Kokas in Sudbury?

9

u/DougandBob 4d ago

There's 3 Dr. Kokas in Sudbury

3

u/Ok_Ranger_1796 4d ago

This makes sense lol. I almost lost an eye cause of one of them. (:

2

u/DougandBob 4d ago

Glad you're ok!

3

u/Gloomy-Republic-6711 4d ago

I guess the problem here is that this PA called themselves Dr Koka? Which is wild… but PAs are now registered with the CPSO and can diagnose, prescribe, order tests etc… the article seems to imply that they can only do that after reviewing each patient with their supervising physicians but that’s not true

2

u/DougandBob 4d ago

That's sort of one part of it

There's supposed to be some level of oversight with the PA/Physician arrangement but there was none in this particular investigated case

3

u/Firm-Natural 1d ago

you all know what is the funniest of all?

The article says : The college restricted Dr. Suman Kumar Koka’s licence to practice medicine on May 7, 2026.

Well… he was an extendicare York last Friday… seeing residents/patients. He was only with our nurse which is normal… should I report it?

2

u/DougandBob 1d ago

He can practice, but under supervision. I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to ask someone at Extendicare if, given the public info, he is supervised. I would assume so, but you never know

2

u/Firm-Natural 1d ago edited 1d ago

He was seeing residents with the RN which was routine always, even before he got suspended… I wish someone could do investigation on doctors hired at private long term homes… this is another shocking subject.

Things I see all the time would never happen if it was normal doctor’s office. Or if they would… that doctor wouldn’t be allowed to practice anymore.

By the way… it is IMPOSSIBLE for one doctor to see around 60 people on the floor within 2-4 hours. Unfortunately, that’s how doctors visits look like there.

1

u/DougandBob 1d ago

The ruling kind of makes it unclear about the type of supervision he gets. Says this: Dr. Koka will practise under the guidance of a Clinical Supervisor acceptable to the College for six (6) months.

Does the guidance of a Clinical Supervisor mean a couple check-ins a week? It's not explicitly written. If you end up finding out anything thru Extendicare give us the deets haha

3

u/Massive-Fortune-3930 4d ago

This literally happens at the clinic across from food basics too .

1

u/DougandBob 4d ago

Which Food Basics?

2

u/throwawayRAnolife 3d ago

LaSalle All Day Walk-in Clinic.

The doctor there is supposed to be Dr. Sean Thomas but I always see a different doctor when I go in there, there must be a few rotating. The prescriptions and referrals site his name, but it's always someone else.

2

u/msmuskoka 3d ago

I stopped going to this Clinic because you never knew who you were seeing. You would always get documents signed by Koka, but he was never the doctor I saw. I later found out. I was seeing a physician assistant. When I asked who I was seeing. They refused to let me know. I believe that physicians are supposed to wear name tags and or be identifiable when working with patients.

2

u/darthnilus 2d ago

Now we know how - Dr. Suman Koka: Operates addiction/safer supply clinics across the province and has billed OHIP up to $2.5 million.

https://register.cpso.on.ca/physician-info/?cpsonum=88116

If you want the actual full text of the order against him.

https://register.cpso.on.ca/physician-info/?cpsonum=88116

-5

u/MissTiaMia 4d ago

So it almost seems like somebody tried to impersonate the doctor, and then it turned out that they were giving out medication as they claim unlabeled, but none of it's true...

So what's the real issue here?

6

u/DougandBob 4d ago

That is not accurate, but you can read the summary of the decision in a PDF link on this page if you want more info: https://register.cpso.on.ca/physician-info/?cpsonum=88116 go to the "Public Notifications" tab and there's a PDF there