Proposed Law Will Boost Health Colleges’ Powers
Ontario has introduced legislation that would see doctors' licences revoked if they grope a patient.Currently a doctor's licence is revoked if they are found to have sexually abused a patient through intercourse, and several other forms of sexual contact, but some sexual touching was not included.The bill would also ensure a doctor found guilty of such offences by the College of Physicians and Surgeons (CPSO) immediately stops practising.
And doctors who are accused of, or have been found guilty of, sexual abuse could no longer continue practising on patients of one gender only.
The same bill also targets parents who don't want their children vaccinated, reintroducing some measures that died in another bill when the legislature prorogued this year.
Parents who want a non-medical exemption for their kids would be required to attend an education session.In an interview with AdvocateDaily.com, Elyse Sunshine says the proposed legislation increases the powers of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (and the other regulatory Colleges) in terms of the complaints process and discipline.
“What’s important to note is that it was always considered sexual abuse if a doctor touches a patient in a sexualized manner — under the legislation being proposed now, this type of sexual abuse i.e. touching of a sexual nature, would result in a mandatory revocation of a health professional’s licence by the College if the professional was convicted of this conduct,” she tells the online legal news service.
Sunshine, partner at Rosen Sunshine LLP, says under existing legislation, if a physician is convicted of certain acts with patients, including intercourse, masturbation and other forms of sexualized actions, he or she will lose their licence.
“But sexual touching didn’t carry a mandatory licence revocation,” she says. “The disciplinary panel of the College had discretion to determine what penalty would be appropriate in that case. Under the proposed legislation, it appears that the panel will no longer have discretion. It will have to revoke if the member is convicted.”
Sunshine says the new legislation is likely being driven by some high-profile cases of abuse involving physicians, as well as the recommendations by the Minister's Task Force on the Prevention of Sexual Abuse of Patients and the Regulated Health Professions Act.
“What we’re seeing is frankly not that shocking because it stems from the recommendations of that report,” she says. Sunshine says there is also a growing dissatisfaction with the way regulators have been dealing with sexual abuse.
“Frankly, I think it’s an unfair criticism. The discipline committees are very harsh when it comes to sexual abuse,” she says. “But there have been a couple of cases where some – notably the regulators themselves – have felt the discipline committee wasn’t harsh enough.”
And those cases, she says, have been used to argue that there is a need to "crack down."
One such case was that of Toronto doctor Javad Peirovy, who was found guilty of sexually abusing four female patients by a panel of the CPSO discipline committee.
Sunshine explains the College took the unusual step of appealing its own disciplinary panel’s decision in the case.
The College’s action there, she says, really highlights the independence of the panel. Still, there is a perception that the disciplinary panel is supportive of the members and that self-regulation doesn’t work, Sunshine says.“But again, I think that’s not valid criticism — if you ask health professionals, they certainly don’t feel as if they're cozy with their regulatory body,” she says. “They appreciate that the regulator’s mandate is to act in the public’s interest and not in the interest of the members.”
