Katrina Clarke

Rural woman accused doctor of sexual assault, treated with derision by police

The woman went to police in 2017 with a disturbing story: a physician in her rural Manitoba community was sexually assaulting female patients, she told them, and she was a victim, too.

She waited for his arrest.

Months passed. Nothing happened.

It was the beginning of the woman’s years-long fight to hold the alleged perpetrator in her town to account. Throughout her ordeal, she says she went up against police who were dismissive of her, a self-regulatory body of physicians who allowed him to continue practising and segments of a close-knit community refusing to believe a respected doctor could be harming patients.

Manitoba’s doctors watchdog headed to image rehab

MANITOBA’S physician watchdog says it plans to “rebrand,” shifting its reputation away from one as “feared” disciplinarian toward one friendlier to responsible doctors and committed to quality of care.

Experts applaud the move, saying it could improve patient safety, but they say regulators will always be feared so long as they’re responsible for discipline — something the government could take off the college’s plate but likely won’t.

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba revealed details of the planned shift at a June 22 meeting. CPSM council members heard that the college will use audits and solicit feedback from members as it seeks to create its new identity — one focused on quality of care — with goals to “build and enhance” physicians’ “proficiency and effectiveness” while also promoting transparency and reducing fear.

Another hope: as quality of care goes up, patient complaints go down.

Training, disclosure, conflict of interest are concerns about physicians

The woman remembers thinking the sign in her family doctor’s exam room was strange.

The single piece of paper, attached to a calendar pinned to the wall, stated: “Dr. Bissonnette requires a chaperone to be present at all times when he conducts any breast or pelvic examination of a female patient.”

Although she wondered if she should be concerned, she told herself he wouldn’t be allowed to treat patients if something serious had come to light. So she continued seeing him as she had been since childhood.

Nearly two years after noticing the sign at the Ste. Anne medical centre, her doctor, Arcel Bissonnette, was charged with six counts of sexual assault involving patients. That number grew to 22 counts as she and more women came forward.

Political will is only fix for broken, secretive system

Manitoba patients are being kept in the dark about physicians accused of misconduct by outdated provincial legislation and a secretive self-regulating body, a Free Press investigation has found.

The legislative weakness and lack of transparency have led to policies that shield doctors from scrutiny and leave patients vulnerable to harm — a potentially dangerous approach critics say will only change when public pressure forces the government to act.

“Significant changes (are needed) to ensure that — at all times — protection of the public is the key goal,” said Brandon Trask, an assistant professor with the University of Manitoba’s faculty of law. “People have to have trust in their physician.”

Critics argue approach to investigating Manitoba doctors harmful to patients

The woman walked out of the doctor’s office that day feeling violated.

It was 2011, she was 19 and she had an appointment for her first full physical exam with the physician she’d been seeing since she was a baby. But she knew he wasn’t supposed to touch her that way.

“I asked him to stop,” she said. “He was just very reassuring, very calm, (saying) ‘This is what a physical is.’ … It was very sick.”

Afterward, she told her family and friends what happened. Many believed her but some minimized her concerns and discouraged her from going to the police, she said. They said it would be a difficult process for her, considering it would be her word against a prominent physician’s.

‘It’s the right thing to do’: Doctors Manitoba joins Pride march

For the first time, Doctors Manitoba will officially march in a Pride parade this weekend — a move the physicians advocacy organization’s new president says is long overdue.

“We recognize we should have joined this many years ago,” Dr. Candace Bradshaw said Friday.

As physicians, Doctors Manitoba members need to make clear and public commitments about validating LGBTTQ+ patients, Bradshaw said, something integral to building trust.

Persistent activist keeps eye on safety issues, spends hours calling 311

Darrell Warren’s tour of the William Whyte neighbourhood focuses on its sore points:

That’s where a fire ripped through three houses and up a tree; over there, a backyard trash pile got so high it spilled over the fence; people keep breaking into that boarded-up house.

Warren is keenly aware of the details because he has made it his personal mission to address them. The lifelong North Ender and president of the William Whyte Neighbourhood Association is fighting to make his community a safer, more livable place.

A big part of that involves addressing persistent health and safety hazards, such as trash piles that give rise to fire risks, vacant buildings and never-ending illegal dumping.

Picture gets blurry when city staff caught by traffic cameras

More than 330 City of Winnipeg vehicles were caught on camera running red lights or speeding over the last three years, city data shows.

But it’s not clear how many city employees paid the tickets, nor how many — if any — were disciplined for the infractions.

Intersection cameras and mobile photo-radar caught 136 city vehicles violating traffic laws in 2019, 90 in 2020 and 110 in 2021, according to the data provided by the city to the Free Press. It does not break down the details of the offences, including whether they involved speeding, the rate of speed or running a red light, nor if any drivers were repeat offenders. The data also doesn’t include emergency vehicles.

Old Kildonan, North Kildonan lead way in outdoor odour complaints

Winnipeggers were enjoying a late burst of summer-like weather in October when a pungent smell pushed residents in the northern fringe back indoors.

There, the air reeked of something resembling cow manure.

That smelly month in 2021, combined with none-too-pleased residents airing their grievances, is what thrust Old Kildonan and North Kildonan into the running for smelliest council wards in Winnipeg. Or at least, it made them the wards with the most complaints about smells.

While certain wards seem to get hit harder by bad odours for varying reasons, the city is now warning less-than-pleasant scents may soon permeate regions city-wide. Blame last week’s dump of snow.