discipline summaries
attended at the hospital and communicated in an
insensitive and unprofessional manner with the patient’s
parents immediately after his death in the course of
communicating to them about the policy of the Coroner’s office regarding co-sleeping.
Patient C
Dr. Rudinskas failed to: conduct her first patient encounter with Patient C at an appropriate hour; conduct
a physical examination during her time as his most
responsible physician; communicate in a timely and
professional manner with the patient and his family,
including by failing to adequately discuss her plan of
care with him; terminate the physician-patient relationship in accordance with College policy; and accurately
document her reason for termination. In terminating
the relationship, Dr. Rudinskas communicated with the
patient’s daughter in an insensitive and unprofessional
manner.
Patient D
Dr. Rudinskas communicated additional information
confirming the patient’s cancer diagnosis to her in an
inappropriate manner and at an inappropriate hour,
and failed to document an appropriate discussion of the
risks and benefits of treatment.
Patient E
Dr. Rudinskas failed to document in the patient’s chart
the rationale for a chemotherapy-related treatment decision, an appropriate discussion regarding the same, and
an appropriate discussion regarding the use of a taxane
regime. She also failed to make a physician-to-physician
transfer when the patient moved to another city to
complete her treatment.
Patient F and G
Dr. Rudinskas failed to document in the patients’ charts
an appropriate discussion of the risks and benefits of
treatment.
Patient H
Dr. Rudinskas failed to consider additional steps to
investigate a differential diagnosis for this patient’s
anemia.
60
Patient I and Patient M
Dr. Rudinskas failed to document in the patients’ charts
appropriate physical examination and appropriate discussion regarding the risks and benefits of treatment.
Patient J
Dr. Rudinskas failed to document an appropriate assessment of Patient J when she presented complaining
of gait instability and failed to document the treatment
plan in the patient’s chart.
Patient K
Dr. Rudinskas failed to document in the patient’s chart
the reasons for her decision to administer a seventh
round of chemotherapy and appropriate discussion
regarding the risks and benefits of doing so.
Patient L
Dr. Rudinskas failed to make appropriate inquiries to
identify the patient’s treating physician(s) in order to
communicate the existence of a fistula, which could
result in renewed sepsis or other issues.
On January 25, 2010, Dr. Rudinskas entered into an
interim undertaking, to remain in effect until the allegations in this hearing had been finally disposed of by
the Discipline Committee. Among other things, Dr.
Rudinskas agreed to complete routine rounds of all patients before 10:00 pm each evening and engage a supervisor acceptable to the College to review all aspects
of her practice and to meet with her to discuss any
issues or concerns. Pursuant to Dr. Rudinskas’ interim
undertaking, she engaged Dr. X as her clinical supervisor. She also completed the Medical Record-Keeping
for Physicians course in October 2010, pursuant to
the interim undertaking.
Reasons for Penalty
The Discipline Committee accepted the joint submission on penalty and costs.
The Committee is aware that an appropriate penalty
should reflect the following principles:
(1) xpress the professions’ abhorrence of the behave
iour;
(2) aintain public confidence in the profession and
m
its ability to self-regulate;
Dialogue Issue 1, 2015
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