reports from council
Option to re-open certain
investigations put forward
Proposed change part of College’s initiative to better protect patients
from physician sexual abuse
photos: D.W. Dorken
This is a brief
overview of the
discussions and
decisions made
at the September
Council meeting.
C
ouncil continues to
propose a number
of changes – both to
the legislation which
governs us, and to our own processes and practices – that will better
protect and support patients from
physician sexual abuse.
Many of the actions taken at the
September meeting build on the
initiatives announced at previous
meetings of Council. The actions
range from developing initiatives
that improve education and training
to seeking new powers in our governing legislation. For example, we
will ask for a change that allows the
Inquiries, Complaints and Reports
Committee to re-open certain investigations if significant new information comes to light. We will also ask
for a number of enhancements to
the funding program that pays for
therapy and counselling for survivors
of physician sexual abuse.
Other actions included:
• approving Sexual Abuse Principles;
• standardizing our approach to
reporting information to the police
about physicians;
• directing that a set of factors be
used to guide any decision to accept or order gender-based restrictions on a physician’s certificate;
and
Issue 3, 2015 Dialogue
15