Melfort doctor's licence suspended after admitting to assaulting children, self-prescribing

A Saskatchewan doctor had his medical licence suspended for four months after admitting he physically assaulted children in separate incidents and self-prescribed medication.

Dr. Robert Steffen works at Family Physicians Group in Melfort, Sask., a city of nearly 6,000 about 160 kilometres northeast of Saskatoon.

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan (CPSS) has suspended Steffen's licence for four months after he admitted to a series of charges from the regulator during a hearing on Nov. 29, 2024.

The charges include:

• Improper conduct for allegedly, on or about Feb. 3, 2019, striking a nine-year-old "child in the face for disobeying a direction."
• Improper or unprofessional conduct for allegedly prescribing himself medication on one or more occasions between 2019 and 2023.
• Unprofessional conduct and dishonesty for responding to the complaint about self-prescribing medication by providing a letter that was "false and/or misleading" on the number times he had allegedly self-prescribed medication, types of medications he had self-prescribed, and reasons or circumstances in which he had self-prescribed medication.
• Unprofessional conduct when on or about Feb. 29, 2023, Steffen is alleged to have spanked an eight-year-old patient across the butt. Steffen is alleged to have done so during an appointment with the child's mother present, after the child refused to co-operate and was pulling on a piece of medical equipment.

Along with the suspension, Steffen was formally reprimanded and directed to pay $8,853.55 for the costs of the investigation and hearing. Steffen's suspension is scheduled to end on March 31, 2025, but will remain in effect if he fails to pay those costs. 

Aside from those costs, Steffen was not fined by the college. Bryan Salte, a spokesperson for the college, said that a fine can be imposed as a penalty when there is a finding of unprofessional conduct, but it is uncommon in cases not involving a financial benefit to the physician, Salte said.

"Subject to complying with the terms of the penalty order, [Steffen] will be able to return to practice when his suspension ends," Salte said.