Doctor censured for posting ‘unprofessional’ comment on patient online

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This article was published 14/05/2023 (873 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba’s physician regulator has reprimanded a Winnipeg doctor after he made an “inappropriate and unprofessional” comment about a patient online.

Family doctor Abdel-Kareem Chehadi was formally censured by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba after he fired back at a patient who criticized his conduct on the online forum RateMDs, according to a decision posted on the college’s website in recent days.

The decision states the matter involved a patient with a history of anxiety and substance use disorder, including alcohol and benzodiazepines. When the patient, called “Patient A” in the decision, started seeing Chehadi in November 2019, the doctor’s treatment plan included consultation with an addiction specialist, tapering of medications and cognitive behavioural therapy.

The patient also required the doctor to fill out certain MPI forms relating to the loss of their driver’s licence. In July 2020, a “conflict” arose over the MPI forms and a long-term disability form which led to “a deterioration of the physician-patient relationship.”

On July 18, 2020, one day after an appointment, Patient A posted an anonymous comment on RateMDs warning future patients to “not waste your time” with Chehadi if they have mental health issues or “need forms filled out for health or work concerns.”

Patient A wrote that their forms were filled out incorrectly, referencing medication they no long take and a “wrong diagnosis.” The patient went on to say the doctor wouldn’t prescribe medication above Tylenol 3 when they were coming off medication and experiencing withdrawal.

“Ended up in Urgent Care after meeting with him that same day. He also told me we were not a great fit in the middle of my crisis. Left me hanging,” the patient wrote. “He is a horrible non-caring doctor.”

Two days later, Dr. Chehadi responded.

“Yup, your ‘0’ years of medical knowledge and experience trumps my ‘20’?” he wrote. “I guess you lost your job because of me and not because of the different kinds of bottles you may or may not have guzzled down?”

Patient A complained to physician regulator about Chehadi’s conduct. The matter was referred to the college’s investigation committee.

Chehadi told the committee he was “uncertain of the identity of the author of the comment” but acknowledged the reply was “inappropriate and unprofessional.” The decision states the physician-patient relationship between the two ended in August 2020.

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“Dr. Chehadi’s comments were blatantly disrespectful,” states the college decision. “It is aggravating that they were made in a public forum toward someone with a reported history of mental health and substance abuse issues.”

The decision notes the college is also aware of other “unprofessional” comments Chehadi has made in response to online posts.

“This is unacceptable conduct, particularly for an experienced physician who should have known better than to engage in such harmful, online discourse.”

The college ordered Chehadi to pay back nearly $3,500 for the cost of the investigation.

katrina.clarke@freepress.mb.ca

Katrina Clarke
Investigative reporter

Katrina Clarke is an investigative reporter at the Winnipeg Free Press. Katrina holds a bachelor’s degree in politics from Queen’s University and a master’s degree in journalism from Western University. She has worked at newspapers across Canada, including the National Post and the Toronto Star. She joined the Free Press in 2022. Read more about Katrina.

Every piece of reporting Katrina produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.