MD pays in sex-for-drugs case

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KEN GIGLIOTTI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS archives Dr. Allan practised at this clinic at 906 Main St. He gave two women OxyContin in exchange for sex.

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Dr. Randy Raymond Allan billed the province for house calls to the women he exploited for sex.

He was a Main Street doctor with a penchant for procuring prostitution services in a massage parlour.

But what started out as a desire for casual encounters turned into something more troubling -- he began trading OxyContin prescriptions for sex.

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba issued its findings and 18-month suspension last month after Winnipeg doctor Randy Raymond Allan pleaded guilty to professional misconduct charges at a Sept. 11 inquiry.

The college's published ruling says Allan testified he met two women when he "visited massage parlours for the purpose of having casual sex. His relationship with those women was that he was initially a customer for prostitution services in the massage parlour."

The college found Allan "failed to maintain appropriate boundaries with two female patients, and specifically that he had personal and sexual relations with them during the same periods that he was providing medical care to them.

"(Allan) issued prescriptions for OxyContin to both patients... because of his personal and sexual relations with them."

The college can reduce the suspension to six months if he meets stringent conditions set by the college, including extensive assessment by the college and taking psychiatric and psychological counselling. He could practise medicine again in March at the earliest.

The ruling also contains a provision for a longer suspension if assessors do not consider Allan fit to resume practising medicine after 18 months.

Attempts to reach Allan through his lawyer were not successful Tuesday.

"It is a very serious penalty" and a very public one, college registrar Dr. William Pope said Tuesday.

Even if Allan is eventually reinstated, the penalty will remain on the college's website for a decade, Pope said.

He said the practice across Canada is to give doctors a chance at remediation, which he emphasized will be a long, demanding process for Allan. If reinstated, Allan will not be allowed to prescribe any form of narcotic, and there must be a chaperone present when he examines women.

"This would not be optional," Pope said.

If a patient asks why a chaperone is present, Allan would have to divulge the reason, Pope said.

He said such harsh penalties happen no more than three or four times a year in Manitoba.

"Fortunately, we don't have a lot of situations in which doctors have inappropriate sex with patients, and not in exchange for narcotics."

Health Minister Theresa Oswald said Tuesday the college took too long to deal with Allan.

"There are people who say this was taking too long, and I might be inclined to agree with that," Oswald said.

She said the province is looking into Allan's billing for services.

She said if it were not for legislative amendments her NDP government brought in, the public might not have found out about Allan.

"The public has the right to know as much as possible, which is why we amended the legislation to require the college to post disciplinary action on their website."

Oswald made it clear the province has no interest or expertise to take over regulatory powers and impose justice on doctors or other health-care professionals accused or found guilty of misconduct. She said regulations not yet proclaimed will tighten reporting requirements for doctors and nurses.

Allan provided one woman with four prescriptions for OxyContin in 2009 and 23 prescriptions for another woman in 2010, the college said.

The college said Allan did not create complete medical records for the two women, who became patients as soon as he prescribed for them, and billed Manitoba Health for reported house calls he made for the purposes of personal and sexual relations with the women.

Prof. Arthur Schafer, a University of Manitoba ethicist, said Tuesday Allan committed "a terrible abuse of trust."

"This is pretty serious conduct. Doctors have a pretty special privilege" in controlling the prescribing of drugs, said Schafer, director of the Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics. "They're supposed to prescribe with integrity."

In 2009, Allan billed the province $447,860 while working at the Main Street Medical Centre.

A spokeswoman for the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority said since Allan worked for a private clinic, all his billings went directly to Manitoba Health.

But he has not practised at the clinic since June 2010, as he was under investigation by the Manitoba College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Point Douglas community activist Sel Burrows said Tuesday members of his residents group regularly see people picking up Oxycontin prescriptions and then selling them openly on the street.

But residents hesitate to name names, Burrows said, because "everybody's afraid to get sued."

-- with files from Jen Skerritt

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca

HEALTH Minister Theresa Oswald has not ruled out referring the case of Dr. Randy Allan to the Winnipeg Police Service.

"It is too early to say if matters will be referred to the police, as it would depend on the findings related to this investigation," an aide to Oswald said late Tuesday.

But the province will definitely pursue restitution.

"The Department of Health has been asked to review the claims submitted by this physician, and will recover payment associated with any inappropriate claims made," said Oswald's aide.

Meanwhile, Dr. William Pope, registrar for the Manitoba College of Physicians and Surgeons, said an individual may contact the police and report the situation; if police contacts the college, then the college will co-operate with police.

HERE'S an excerpt of what the Manitoba College of Physicians and Surgeons said about Dr. Randy Allan's trading OxyContin prescriptions for sexual relations:

"It is necessary to state in the strongest possible terms, that Dr. Allan's actions and behaviour were reprehensible.

"He exploited the circumstances of two women, who, by virtue of their addictions, were particularly vulnerable... There were also elements of financial gain and sexual gratification involved in Dr. Allan's actions, all of which make his conduct particularly repugnant and wholly unacceptable."

The full report of the disciplinary hearing against Dr. Randy Raymond Allan can be found at http://cpsm.mb.ca/cjj39alckF30a/wp-content/uploads/20120911allan.pdf

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition October 17, 2012 A3