discipline summaries
Dr. GEORGE GLUMAC
Practice Location: Guelph
Area of Practice: Psychiatry
Hearing Information: Plea of No Contest, Agreed
Statement of Facts, Joint Submission on Penalty
On March 21, 2016, the Discipline Committee
found that Dr. George Glumac committed acts of
professional misconduct, in that he engaged in the
sexual abuse of a patient; he failed to maintain the
standard of the profession; and he engaged in con-
duct or an act or omission relevant to the practice of
medicine that, having regard to all the circumstances,
would reasonably be regarded by members as dis-
graceful, dishonourable, or unprofessional.
The Discipline Committee also found that Dr.
Glumac is incompetent.
Around 2008, Patient A sought a psychiatrist to
assist with the care and treatment of one of her chil-
dren with special needs.
Patient A, who has had frequent surgeries, chronic
pain, and limited mobility, also has a history of
childhood sexual abuse. Patient A’s husband, Patient
B, has a developmental disorder. Patient A and her
family have faced significant financial challenges,
receive financial assistance, and have no additional
income.
Dr. Glumac agreed to see the family for therapy for
issues arising with Patient A’s child.
In early 2009, Patient A asked to see Dr. Glumac
alone. At their first private appointment in January
2009, Dr. Glumac suggested that Patient A would
benefit from seeing someone, and he suggested she
see him regularly as a “place to vent.” He told her he
would see her as a friend. Patient A agreed and began
to see Dr. Glumac regularly, without her children.
Occasionally, Patient B, her husband, would join her
in these sessions for joint counseling.
Around May 2009, Dr. Glumac began managing
Patient A’s chronic pain and prescribed an antide-
pressant; a narcotic; an amphetamine; buproprion; a
narcotic; benzodiazepine; an SSNRI; an SSRI; and a
synthetic cannabinoid.
Boundary Violations
Dr. Glumac made personal disclosures to Patient A
including that he was a practising fundamentalist
Christian, details about his relationship with his wife
and his medical history, and information about his
childhood.
Dr. Glumac would begin his sessions with Patient
A by praying with her, either by placing his hands on
her shoulders and invoking a blessing or by having
Patient A kneel on the floor at his feet with her body
between his knees, placing his hand on her head, and
invoking a blessing.
In their sessions, Dr. Glumac referred to Patient A
as his “little buddy” and told her that he was seeing
her as