LEGISLATION
Legislation defines
patient for purposes
of sexual abuse
Several other new amendments
now in force as of May 1
T
he Protecting Patients Act is an important
piece of legislation for patients and for
all colleges who regulate Ontario’s health
professions in the public interest. Its aim
is to strengthen the sexual abuse and transparency
provisions in the Regulated Health Professions Act
(RHPA), and change how we move forward in the
complaints, investigation and discipline processes.
On May 1, 2018 a number of amendments to the
RHPA were brought into force. Also, three sets of reg-
ulations were enacted. In particular, physicians should
be aware of significant changes to the length of time
an individual will be a patient and that sexual relation-
ships within this context will be subject to mandatory
revocation. This is addressed in detail below, in addi-
tion to other new provisions.
Definition of Patient for the Purposes of
Sexual Abuse
For the purposes of sexual abuse, under the Regulated
Health Professions Act, a person will be considered
to be a patient for a year after the termination of
the doctor-patient relationship. This means that any
physician who engages in a sexual relationship with
a patient within one year of the termination of the
doctor-patient relationship is subject to mandatory
revocation.
A statutory definition of a patient for the purposes
of the sexual abuse provisions in the Health Professions
Procedural Code has been created to extend their status
as a patient by one year after it would otherwise have
ended. This period can be extended further by a col-
lege which can make regulation on the subject. (Please
note – this College supports developing a regulation
that would extend the physician-patient relationship
five years beyond termination where the relationship
has involved psychotherapy. See Reports from Coun-
cil on page 17).
Until now, the Discipline Committee considered a
person to be a patient of the member on the basis of a
number of factors that were considered in the context
of the specific circumstances of each case. That will
continue to be the case. In addition, the new regula-
tion expands that definition, for the purposes of the
sexual abuse provisions to also include any one of the
following:
o A person who received health-care services from the
member and payment is charged or received,
o An entry is made by the member to the health
record for the person,
o The person has provided consent to a health-care
service recommended by the member, or
ISSUE 2, 2018 DIALOGUE
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