Police to be told when MDs may have committed crimes
College of Physicians and Surgeons will forward disciplinary decisions
For the first time, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario has started forwarding decisions of its disciplinary committee to police when potential criminal acts by doctors — including sexual abuse — are involved.
The policy change was approved at a meeting of the college’s council Sept. 10-11 and affects all disciplinary committee decisions after that date.
The college won’t comment on individual cases, but the new policy appears to apply to the disciplinary committee’s Sept. 24 finding that Eastern Ontario rheumatologist Tariq Iqbal sexually abused four female patients in 2011.
Iqbal has been subject to practice restrictions since March 2014 that set strict conditions on his examination of female patients. His ultimate fate as a doctor will be determined at a penalty hearing scheduled for Oct. 20.
The Health Professions Proce- dural Code provides for mandatory revocation of a physician’s certificate of registration for any one of eight sexual acts involving patients.
The college is recommending amendments to the Regulated Health Professions Act that would make revocation mandatory for all physical sexual contact between a physician and a patient.
Moreover, revocation would be immediate once a finding of sexual abuse is made, eliminating the need for a penalty hearing.
The college would also like to expand mandatory revocation to other acts of professional misconduct, including being found guilty of a criminal sexual offence and “sexual impropriety” with a minor.
Under the college’s proposed amendments, sexual impropriety is defined as sexual gestures and comments. Penalties would be discretionary but could include revocation.
The college’s decision to start reporting physicians’ criminal acts to police represents a sharp break from past practice.
Though it has discretionary power to provide information to police on request, the college has rarely initiated a report to police until now.
Under its new policy, the college will forward disciplinary committee decisions that raise issues of physician criminal actions as soon as they are made public.
It will also initiate reports to police or provide information on request if college investigations find “reasonable grounds” to believe that physicians have committed criminal acts and patients or the public might be harmed.
The new disclosure policy is controversial. Opponents maintain that sharing information with police is an intrusion on patients’ privacy, undermines their autonomy and will have a chilling effect on their willingness to come forward with complaints.
The names of complainants won’t be shared without their consent.
For many years, the college has advised complainants who provide information about criminal acts by physicians that they might want to file a report with police. It also offers to assist them.