discipline summaries
dishonourable or unprofessional conduct in her dealings with six patients ( Patients A to F ) and their families by :
• Failing to respond appropriately to requests by the College and the patients for their medical records ;
• Failing to appropriately maintain patient records ;
• Improperly storing vaccines , resulting in a suspension of vaccination privileges from Public Health ;
• Not responding to patients ’ care concerns ;
• Failing to appropriately make referrals for patients ;
• Failing to complete forms required by patients ;
• Behaving rudely to patients and discharging them without justification or notice and without following the College policy ;
• Leaving the patients waiting for hours or more on one occasion ;
• Failing to safeguard the patient ’ s privacy ; and
• Mismanaging appointments with specialists .
Dr . McIntyre failed to maintain the standard of practice of the profession and engaged in disgraceful , dishonourable or unprofessional conduct with respect to her clinical care and treatment of patients , her failure to maintain boundaries , her failure to maintain proper records , her failure to comply with public health requirements , including unsafe storage of vaccines , and her failure to respond in a timely way to requests for patient records .
Registrar ’ s Investigation – Clinical Care On the basis of the public complaints , the Registrar of the College appointed investigators to conduct an investigation of Dr . McIntyre ’ s practice under s . 75 ( 1 )( a ) of the Code . Dr . Z , the independent expert retained by the College , concluded that Dr . McIntyre failed to maintain the standard of practice of the profession and / or engaged in disgraceful , dishonourable or unprofessional conduct with respect to her clinical care and treatment of patients , her failure to maintain boundaries , her failure to maintain proper records , her failure to comply with public health requirements including unsafe storage of vaccines , and her failure to respond in a timely way to requests for patient records . The deficiencies in Dr . McIntyre ’ s practice and record keeping included ( but were not limited to ) the following : ( a ) The Patient Profile was frequently incomplete , making it difficult to determine the general medical health of the patient from the chart ; ( b ) The charting of medications was unusual , with a separate sheet listing medications prescribed in an alphabetized format , as a summary of the medications the patient is taking regularly , but with no diagnosis associated with the medication . There was no way of determining the amount of medication prescribed at each visit ; ( c ) The most significant concern was that the lines of professionalism and relationships were often blurred , with Dr . McIntyre showing the greatest lack of judgment in cases of patients with whom she had some type of relationship outside the doctor-patient context . In respect of the concerns regarding public health requirements , the College obtained extensive documentation from the Public Health Unit documenting Dr . McIntyre ’ s repeated failures to comply with public health requirements and repeated breaches of public health protocols ( incorrect refrigeration temperature , incorrect vaccine storage , failure to maintain log books , maintenance of expired vaccines ). After attempted and failed remediation plans , Dr . Mc- Intyre ’ s office was ultimately suspended from the public health programme through which physicians receive vaccines to administer to their patients .
Registrar ’ s Investigation - Disgraceful , Dishonourable , Unprofessional Conduct In January 2011 , investigators were appointed to inquire into and examine Dr . McIntyre ’ s personal and professional relationships with Mr . X . Mr . X was a patient of Dr . McIntyre ’ s for about 20 years . Among other conditions , Mr . X suffered from a mental illness and was recovering from substance abuse . During the course of the doctor-patient relationship , Dr . McIntyre and Mr . X became close friends , and she introduced Mr . X to her family , with whom he formed personal relationships .
In or around 2010 , in part due to their increasingly close personal relationship , Dr . McIntyre and Mr . X terminated their doctor-patient relationship . Dr . McIntyre and Mr . X became increasingly closer . Approximately 12 months after the end of the doctor-patient relationship , they began a sexual relationship . The Discipline Committee found that with respect to Mr . X , Dr . McIntyre engaged in disgraceful , dishonourable or unprofessional conduct by failing to maintain appropriate
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Dialogue Issue 4 , 2016