discipline summaries
Marcin that he had developed romantic feelings for
her. Dr. Marcin explained to him that his romantic
feelings were not for her personally but for an ideal
of someone like her. Between April 2010 and June
2010, records demonstrate that 17 separate phone
calls took place between Dr. Marcin and Patient A
outside office hours while Dr. Marcin was still pro-
viding care to Patient A.
In the summer of 2010, Dr. Marcin told Patient
A that she would be vacationing in an area in On-
tario. Patient A concocted a story about his substance
abuse sponsor heading to a retreat in the same area
and explained that, if Dr. Marcin could give him a
ride, Patient A would then be able to meet his spon-
sor at that retreat. Dr. Marcin agreed.
Once at Hotel Z, Patient A revealed to Dr. Marcin
that he had invented the entire story to be alone with
her in an attempt to initiate a romantic relation-
ship. Dr. Marcin expressed her disappointment with
Patient A for mi sleading her, telling him that she was
hurt that he had lied to her, and that she had to fire
him as her patient. Nevertheless, Dr. Marcin allowed
Patient A to sleep on her hotel room floor at Hotel Z
for the duration of the multi-day vacation.
On the dates in August 2010 in which Dr. Marcin
allowed Patient A to stay with her in her room at
Hotel Z, several other vacant rooms were available
at Hotel Z. There were also approximately 20 other
hotels in the surrounding area.
Patient A denied any sexual activity occurred be-
tween him and Dr. Marcin. Patient A stated that the
sexual content referred to in the letters that he wrote
to Dr. Marcin, seized by the police, was all “fantasy”
and his imagination.
On the drive home from Hotel Z in August 2010,
Dr. Marcin told Patient A that he should no longer
see her as his doctor. However, Dr. Marcin continued
to fill his prescriptions after this date.
Phone records demonstrate that Dr. Marcin and
Patient A spoke on the phone and texted multiple
times between August 2010 and February 2011.
In his letters, Patient A had indicated that he and
Dr. Marcin could write emails while logged into the
Gmail account but leave them in the draft folder as
a way of communicating without actually having to
send an email.
Forensic analysis demonstrated that Dr. Marcin ac-
cessed the shared Gmail account on or after May 18,
2010 and composed and/or read emails in the drafts
folder of the account. The College-retained informa-
tion systems expert recovered 12 emails and email
fragments written between October 2010 and Janu-
ary 2011 which had been deleted from Dr. Marcin’s
computer.
The Committee found that Dr. Marcin violated
boundaries because she drove Patient A, a vulnerable
patient who had told her of his romantic feelings for
her, to a vacation site in Ontario. The Committee
also found that Dr. Marcin seriously violated bound-
aries when she allowed Patient A to stay with her in
the same room at Hotel Z, share meals, go shopping
together, and engage in other activities with him over
four days. There were options available to Dr. Marcin
to manage the situation because other rooms had
been available at Hotel Z. It would also have been
possible for Dr. Marcin to take Patient A back to his
home. This episode changed their relationship and
precipitated the purported cessation of the doctor-
patient relationship.
The Committee found that this conduct was dis-
graceful, dishonourable and unprofessional.
OHIP Billing
Among other billing and record-keeping issues,
between 2009 and 2011, Dr. Marcin billed for OHIP
93 times for individual psychotherapy for Patient A
for which there are no corresponding patient notes.
This includes billing for services in August 2010
while she was with Patient A at Hotel Z.
Patient A told the College he did not receive
psychotherapy on weekends. However, in 2010, Dr.
Marcin billed OHIP 36 times for individual psycho-
therapy for Patient A on Saturdays.
Dr. Marcin billed OHIP under K007A (psycho-
therapy) for Patient A after August 2010 on 22 occa-
sions. However, no psychotherapy was provided on
these occasions.
In addition, record-keeping irregularities existed.
There were many duplicate chart notes and a system
of two appointment books which, at times, contained
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Issue 2, 2017 Dialogue
61