discipline summaries
orders. Patients have the right to expect that members
of the medical profession will behave with professional
integrity toward them; this underpins the trust that
patients have in their physicians. Such conduct reflects
poorly on Dr. Martin, and it affects the reputation
of the profession as a whole. Dr. Martin also admitted that counselling for eating disorders was outside
his scope of practice, which is an additional failure to
meet his professional responsibilities.
The two-month suspension, the reprimand, and the
indefinite prohibition against Dr. Martin returning to
fertility medicine, all serve to denounce Dr. Martin’s
misconduct. They also tell both Dr. Martin and the
profession as a whole that this misconduct was serious
and will not be treated lightly by the profession. Thus
the proposed penalty serves the goals of specific and
general deterrence. It also serves to maintain public
confidence in the profession. The requirement that Dr.
Martin must undertake remedial education in medical
ethics will serve a rehabilitative function. Dr. Martin’s
record-keeping practices were substandard as noted by
both of the experts who reviewed the patient records.
This is also unacceptable and requires specific remediation. The proposed penalty requires that Dr. Martin
complete a medical record-keeping course, which is
appropriate under the circumstances.
Patient safety is further addressed in the Order by
the indefinite limitation of Dr. Martin’s future practice exclusively to reproductive endocrinology. This is
a narrow area in which Dr. Martin has expertise, and
where the Committee had no evidence to suggest a
failure to maintain professional standards. Interpretation of fertility-related ultrasound images will cease as
of December 31, 2014, and while Dr. Martin will be
permitted to continue interpreting images until then
(after his suspension is served), he will be supervised
by a clinical supervisor. The Committee was satisfied
that this program of oversight will adequately protect the public during the short time that Dr. Martin
continues to interpret these images. Furthermore, for
an indefinite period Dr. Martin will be required to
submit to unannounced inspections of his practice
location(s) and patient records by the College for the
purpose of monitoring his compliance with the Order.
This will also serve to protect the public.
Costs in the amount of $40,140 payable within 30
days of the Order have been agreed to by the parties.
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Dialogue Issue 2, 2015
The Committee considered this to be an appropriate
case in which to order costs. The Committee agreed
that a significant proportion of the costs of the hearing
should be borne by Dr. Martin and not the membership as a whole. The hearing was booked for a number
of weeks and settled on the first day of the hearing.
In conclusion, the Committee considered the proposed penalty carefully. It agreed with counsel for the
parties that it represents an appropriate sanction in
this matter, and it accepted the joint submission.
Order
The Discipline Committee ordered and directed that:
1. r. Martin appear before the panel to be reprimanded.
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2. he Registrar suspend Dr. Martin’s certificate of regist
tration for a period of two months;
3. he Registrar impose the following terms, condit
tions and limitations on Dr. Martin’s certificate of
registration:
a) ffective immediately, Dr. Martin shall cease
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accepting new patients in his practice of fertility
medicine;
b) ffective immediately, Dr. Martin shall not counE
sel or advise patients regarding eating disorders
or any other matter falling outside his permitted
scope of practice;
c) ffective July 1, 2014, Dr. Martin shall restrict his
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practice exclusively to reproductive endocrinology
and the interpretation of fertility-related ultrasound images;
d) ithout in any way restricting the generality of the
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restriction set out in paragraph 3(c) above, effective
July 1, 2014, Dr. Martin shall be prohibited from
practising fertility medicine in any respect, including, without limitation, the following:
i. ertility-related assessment and investigations,
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including the performance or interpretation of
fertility-related hysterosalpingograms, fertility
treatment or fertility-related cycle-monitoring;
ii. Artificial insemination;
iii. In vitro fertilization including oocyte retrievals
and/or embryo transfers;
iv.
Counselling or advising patients regarding fertility treatments, artificial insemination, or any
other matter relating to fertility medicine; and
v. ecision making of any kind regarding the care
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and treatment of patients undergoing fertility