discipline summaries
to the practice of medicine that, having regard to all the
circumstances, would reasonably be regarded by members
as disgraceful, dishonourable or unprofessional.
Dr. Redhead denied the allegations.
The Committee found that it was inappropriate that
Dr. Redhead engaged in a sexual relationship with Ms
X, a former patient, only a few weeks after the end of
their doctor-patient relationship. Dr. Redhead had
treated Ms X on several occasions while on call at a
hospital. He attended on Ms X in person as a patient
on five occasions: twice on November 12 and then on
December 27, 28 and 29, 2006. Dr. Redhead was aware
of Ms X’s vulnerabilities and he treated her for mental illness, which consisted of depression, anxiety, and
suicidal ideation.
Dr. Redhead also gave gifts to Ms X. He knew that
she was emotionally and financially needy. The giving
of gifts by Dr. Redhead to someone who he knew had
such problems, served only to deepen her dependence
on him and thus exploited her vulnerability and augmented the power imbalance between them.
Reasons for Findings
Dr. Redhead had been alleged to have committed sexual
abuse of a patient, Ms X. The Code defines sexual abuse
of a patient by a member to include “sexual intercourse
or other forms of physical sexual relations between the
patient and the member”. There is no dispute that Dr.
Redhead and Ms X engaged in such frank sexual activity. However, for that to constitute sexual abuse by Dr.
Redhead, Ms X must have been his patient at the time
the sexual activity took place.
The Committee concluded that Ms X was not Dr.
Redhead’s patient during their sexual affair. There is no
evidence that Dr. Redhead had a patient file for Ms X
with a clinical history, physical examination, diagnosis
and plan of management.
There is no documentary evidence in which Dr. Redhead referred to Ms X as his patient. She had her own
family doctor and other specialists were treating her. She
was clearly not dependent on Dr. Redhead for her care.
In fact, Ms X testified that she didn’t need medical care
at the time she was seeing Dr. Redhead as she was feeling
better. Dr. Redhead never wrote any consultation letters
on her behalf or received any from other consultants. He
did not provide her with psychotherapy.
A physician, however, may be found to have engaged
in conduct that would reasonably be regarded by members as disgraceful, dishonourable or unprofessional by
beginning a sexual relationship unacceptably soon after
the end of a doctor-patient relationship.
In coming to its conclusion on this issue, the Committee considered the