reports from council
Proposing measures to protect
patients from sexual abuse
photos: D.W. Dorken
This is a brief
overview of the
discussions and
decisions made at
the May Council
meeting.
C
ouncil proposed a
number of changes –
both to the legislation
which governs us, and
to our own processes and practices
– squarely aimed at better protecting and supporting patients from
physician sexual abuse.
“Our foremost responsibility when
dealing with sexual abuse by physicians is to protect victims, and the
important decisions Council has
made will bolster our ability to do
so,” said College President Dr. Carol
Leet.
We are now consulting on draft
principles that articulate the College’s
approach toward physician sexual
abuse of patients. (Please see page
20). These principles will ground the
work of the initiative. The content of
these draft principles is informed by
the College’s mandate, the prin-
ciples set out in the College’s current
policy on Maintaining Appropriate Boundaries and Preventing
Sexual Abuse and earlier Council
discussion. Please participate in our
consultation at www.cpso.on.ca and
let us know what you think.
Council endorsed a number of
proposed changes to the sexual abuse
provisions in the governing legislation, the Regulated Health Professions Act. The most significant is the
proposal for two different definitions
of sexual misconduct. All physical
sexual contact between a physician and patient would fall within
the definition of sexual abuse, and
would result in revocation. Sexual
comments and gestures would be
defined as sexual impropriety, and
penalties for sexual impropriety
would be at the discretion of the
Discipline Committee.
Issue 2, 2015 Dialogue
13