11/03/2025
Update Regarding My Professional Status
This statement is intended solely to keep my patients and community informed of my current professional status. It does not reflect any criticism of any individual and I remain fully committed to cooperating with all ongoing processes. It is not intended to comment on, interfere with, or influence any investigation or other legal matter that may be ongoing.
As many of you know, I have been under an interim suspension from medical practice since April 4, 2025. The College’s Complaints Authorization Committee (CAC) was expected to independently review the matter and determine both the disposition of the allegations and whether the suspension should remain in place.
After more than fourteen months of investigation — including seven months under an interim suspension — the Committee met on September 24, 2025. I have since been advised, through the investigator and not directly by the College, that the Committee was unable to reach a decision.
To date, I have not received any written reasons for the Committee’s September 24, 2025 disposition or for any reconsideration of the suspension itself. Instead, the College has commissioned an “additional investigation” and a supplemental report. In correspondence, the investigator has noted that I remain under interim suspension and has linked the urgency of that work to my status. At the same time, College counsel has told my legal counsel that review of the suspension is, in their view, a matter for the Registrar rather than the Committee. The combined effect is that an extraordinary interim measure continues indefinitely, on shifting and opaque grounds, while the evidentiary and jurisdictional basis for the original decision remains undisclosed. In my view, this is inconsistent with basic procedural fairness and creates a reasonable concern that the ongoing investigation is now being used to retroactively justify, rather than independently scrutinize, the decision to suspend me.
More broadly, the process to date has been highly unusual.
the CAC did not make a finding of reasonable grounds to authorize any single allegation into a formal complaint based on the evidence before it, yet
there has been no formal written decision provided to me,
no clear identification of what new evidence is being sought, and
no transparent explanation of why an interim suspension must continue while this “additional investigation” proceeds.
Fundamental principles of procedural fairness and administrative transparency in Canadian professional-regulatory law require that a registrant be told, in writing, what has been decided and why. This is especially important where an interim measure prevents a physician from practising, affects patients’ continuity of care, and impacts that physician’s ability to support their children and family.
Throughout this process, I have cooperated fully and respectfully with the College and with all lawful investigations. I remain committed to doing so. I am not asking for special treatment. I am asking that decisions which profoundly affect my patients, my children, and my professional life be made promptly, on the evidence, with clear written reasons, and in a way that any reasonable person could understand and scrutinize.
As a registrant, I believe I am acting consistently with the best interests of my patients and the public by communicating these matters in a transparent and responsible way. This reflects my commitment to fairness, accountability, and social responsibility — values that, in my view, are at the heart of medical practice. As a physician, a father, and a person of Indigenous descent, I feel a responsibility to model honesty and integrity for my children and for the communities I serve.
I do not believe it is in the public’s best interest to allow silence to prevail over integrity, honesty, and transparency.
For those who have expressed distress or personal hardship arising from this indefinite interim suspension, please know that my full intention is to return to primary care and continue serving my patients and community — with renewed conviction, effort, and dedication — as soon as I am lawfully permitted to do so.
With appreciation and respect,
Dr. Marcus Lawrence Jeddore Hancock
“Justice must not only be done, but must also be seen to be done.”
— Lord Hewart, C.J., R v. Sussex Justices, ex parte McCarthy (1924)
