Ontario government cracks down on health care sex abuse

In the wake of a Star investigation, a law proposed by the Liberal government would expand the list of types of sexual abuse that lead to the mandatory revocation of a health care professional’s licence

Thestar.com
Dec. 8, 2016
By Jacques Gallant

The province announced changes to the law Thursday that would mean more acts of sexual abuse of patients lead to the mandatory revocation of a health care professional’s licence.

Currently, under the antiquated Regulated Health Professions Act, most forms lead to automatic revocation, including penetration, oral sex and masturbation. But other acts, such as groping, do not, leaving the decision on revoking the licence to the discretion of a health regulatory college’s discipline committee.

The new rules announced Thursday by Health Minister Eric Hoskins follow a 2014 Star investigation into doctors still practicing after being found to have sexually abused their patients. That probe led to the creation of a task force to study the issue, and the changes announced Thursday were based on the task force’s recommendations.

Hoskins told the Star he hopes the legislation will be passed by early spring after further debate.

“Throughout the process we’re going to want to make sure that we hear from the various stakeholders and the patients who are either advocates themselves or who have been impacted,” he said.

“We want to make sure that their voices have been heard, so that we can continue to refine the legislation if necessary so that it speaks to the government’s policy of zero tolerance.”

Almost immediately following the proposal of the bill, a discrepancy emerged between what the government is proposing and what Ontario’s largest health regulatory body, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO), is demanding.

Although the Liberals said they would expand the list of sexual abuse acts leading to mandatory revocation, the CPSO again reiterated Thursday that it is calling for mandatory revocation for all forms of physical sexual contact between a physician and patient.

“The continued use of a list creates the impression that there are still some acts of sexual abuse which would not result in revocation,” said medical malpractice lawyer Paul Harte.

Hoskins told the Star any finding of sexual abuse by a discipline committee that is not considered one of the acts leading to mandatory revocation would at minimum lead to an immediate suspension under the proposed changes.

He also indicated that discipline committees already have the ability under the existing law to revoke a licence even when not considered mandatory, and that there are opportunities during and after the legislative process to add more sexual acts to the list.

“I’m pleased to see that the government is responding to our recommendations and starting to implement changes that need to happen,” Sheila Macdonald, a member of the recent task force and provincial co-ordinator of sexual assault and domestic violence treatment centres in Ontario, told the Star on Thursday.

“It’s a starting point. I look forward to the rest of the recommendations also being implemented. Some are easier to implement than others. I think they’re necessary, but there’s going to be some challenges, but I’m optimistic that this government has the desire to do what is best for patients in Ontario.”

Loopholes in the legislation were highlighted this year in the case of Toronto doctor Javad Peirovy, who was found guilty of sexually abusing four female patients by a panel of the CPSO discipline committee. The panel found he had groped the women’s breasts and nipples.

But despite the urging of the college’s lawyer to revoke Peirovy’s licence, the panel chose to suspend him for six months last April - a decision that earned a rare public rebuke from the college’s registrar.

The CPSO is now involved in a legal battle with Peirovy, urging a court to order a new penalty hearing so that it can again argue for Peirovy’s licence to be revoked.

“The committee failed to recognize that changing social values around sexual abuse by physicians” require stricter penalties, CPSO lawyer Elisabeth Widner told the judges in court Tuesday.

Other proposed changes announced Thursday include increasing access to patient therapy once a complaint has been made and new transparency rules that could see the colleges required to post more information about a health professional on their public registers online.

“I think we have come to a place where a lot of people have lost confidence in the colleges, and every college’s main mandate is to protect the public, this is why they exist,” said NDP health critic France Gelinas.

“Once you have lost this trust from the public, something needed to be done ... If (the bill) intends to rebuild confidence in the college system, it is something that I support.”

What was not proposed was one of the main recommendations from the task force’s report: the creation of an independent body to prosecute sexual abuse allegations against health professionals.

Hoskins would not commit to the creation of such a watchdog in an interview with the Star in September when the task force report was released. He again said Thursday that he wants to consult on that recommendation.

Macdonald described it as a “very, very important” recommendation that needs to be implemented.

“I know it would take some work and substantial changes, and probably not something that’s going to be well received by some of the colleges,” she said. “We need our patients to have trust and confidence in the system, to ensure that they’re safe.”