Doctors watchdog ‘dropped the ball’: expert

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This article was published 15/02/2023 (934 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Sexual assault allegations against a former Winnipeg doctor, brought to light in a patient’s lawsuit, are raising questions about how the province’s physicians watchdog handled complaints against him years ago.

It’s a case legal experts say should “shake” the public’s trust in the self-regulating physician system and prompt regulatory change at the legislative level. One says the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba “dropped the ball.”

In a statement of claim filed in Court of King’s Bench in December, Shamoon Hasham Din is alleged to have sent texts “of a sexual nature” to a patient and sexually assaulted her at “several” appointments between August 2020 and March 2021.

At the time, Din, who practised at FamilyCare Medical Centre in Winnipeg, was subject to conditions imposed by the physicians regulator — including he have a chaperone present when treating female patients and to post signage informing patients of this requirement. The statement of claim alleges no chaperone was present and no signage was posted.

The woman only learned of the conditions in June 2022, when she read media reports about Din’s medical licence being cancelled for a separate matter, her lawyer, Chris Wullum, said.

The allegations have not been proven in court. No statement of defence has been filed. Lawyers who previously represented Din did not respond to requests for comment.

The college, a self-regulating physician watchdog, revoked Din’s medical licence in June, after finding he breached the undertaking that required him to have a chaperone present, to post signage to that effect, and to not communicate with patients outside of work.

The matter came to light after a female patient complained to the college about his “inappropriate” texts to her.

His licence was previously suspended in 2018 for a year, after pleading guilty to professional misconduct relating to having an inappropriate relationship with a teen patient years earlier.

Din sent her more than 1,000 “salacious and manifestly unprofessional and inappropriate” text messages and bought her gifts. The girl ended up in hospital after overdosing on anti-anxiety medication he prescribed her.

“They dropped the ball on this,” said Brandon Trask, an assistant professor of law at the University of Manitoba. “He should have lost his licence the first time around.”

Trask said Din’s behaviour with a vulnerable teen was “very serious.” Furthermore, the conditions put in place by the college after the fact, such as having a chaperone present, were “clearly ineffective.”

“The college essentially makes someone their own jailer — they will download responsibility for enforcing these conditions to the physician themselves or other members associated with that physician’s practice,” Trask said.

According to the college’s reasons for revoking Din’s licence in June, he acknowledged “the requirement to have a chaperone present, and the associated signage advising patients of the requirement, was ‘embarrassing’ and had been used to ‘intimidate/extort me for gain.’”

The college said in its June decision it conducted audits and required Din’s practice supervisor to submit progress reports to the college, but acknowledged that did not prevent him from breaching the undertaking.

Trask said the regulator needs to take “a more active direct role in monitoring and enforcement.”

“The college should be continually auditing people who’ve been brought to their attention through past discipline, because that might just be the tip of the iceberg,” he said.

Another expert says that’s likely not good enough.

“Even if (the college was) quite vigilant in their enforcement, they can’t be there 24 hours a day to ensure a chaperone is there,” said Lorian Hardcastle, an associate professor with the University of Calgary faculty of law.

Hardcastle, who researches physician sexual assault, said too often, doctors involved in sexually inappropriate relationships with patients are repeat offenders.

“Colleges need to rethink the way they’re approaching these cases and whether it truly it is in the public interest to allow a doctor that has had the poor judgment the engage in this kind of conduct with patients, to continue practising at all,” she said.

“It shakes public trust in self-regulation,” Hardcastle said of doctors overseeing doctors, as is the case with the Manitoba college. “It should shake the government trust in self-regulation.”

Colleges need to take allegations of sexual abuse seriously, making them public as soon as possible, which could alert other potential victims and compel them to come forward, she said.

In Manitoba, that would require legislative change.

The Regulated Health Professions Act only ensures the college makes information about complaints public after an investigation has resulted in a physician being formally censured.

Asked for comment on calls to update the act, a provincial spokesperson would only speak to the existing law, saying it “requires the publication of final disciplinary decisions, with limited exceptions to protect the identity of the complainant and any witnesses and in relation to the personal health information of a CPSM member.”

The spokesperson noted the Manitoba college protects patient safety by “placing conditions on the practice of a member or suspending the member from practising if required. Any condition or interim suspension imposed is to be noted on the physician profiles, which are available to the public.”

Dr. Anna Ziomek, college registrar, noted the Manitoba body would investigate any complaints received by patients for five years after the cancellation of Din’s medical licence.

katrina.clarke@freepress.mb.ca