president’ s message
president’ s message
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We also sought to empower patients by ensuring their access to care.
” the circumstances where patients can communicate the impact of abuse on them by submitting impact statements to the Discipline Committee. We also have provided more information to patients on our website about our stance against sexual abuse. We explain clearly that sexual abuse by physicians is a serious breach of trust and then describe what a proper physical examination looks like – and what could be red flags for improper behaviour by a doctor. We did this because too many abused patients told us that while they had a gut feeling that a doctor’ s comment was inappropriate or that the exam performed on them felt wrong, they were unsure whether their doctor had crossed the line and therefore hesitated to come forward. We encourage patients to talk to us about their experience, and explain why it is important for us to know about their concerns. And recognizing that it could intimidating to reach out to the College when you are not fluent in English, we made this information available in 11 different languages( click here).
We also sought to empower patients by ensuring their access to care. Our Professional Obligations and Human Rights policy affirms the rights of patients to access care, and to be treated safely and without discrimination. The most controversial aspect of the policy addresses the College’ s expectations in circumstances where physicians limit the services they provide for reasons of conscience or religion. The policy requires that physicians who choose to limit the health services they provide for reasons of conscience or religion do so in a manner that respects patient dignity, ensures access to care and protects their safety, by providing an“ effective referral”. Several months later, we would visit the issue of effective referral again as we developed our Interim Guidance for Physician-Assisted Death. This guidance was developed to ensure that Ontario physicians were aware of their obligations and the College’ s expectations when physician-assisted death became legal. And again, we made it clear that while physicians do not have to provide services that conflict with their conscience or religious beliefs, they must make an effective referral in a timely manner to a non-objecting physician or agency. It’ s been a year of extraordinary challenges, but I believe that throughout it all, we kept our mandate of public protection fully in focus and thereby demonstrated our commitment to our patients.
4 COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF ONTARIO