REPORTS FROM COUNCIL
Proposal extends protection for
former psychotherapy patients
Regulation would supplement Ministry’s definition of patient
C
An overview of the
discussions and
decisions made
at the May Council
meeting.
ouncil has supported a
proposed regulation to
extend the physician-
patient relationship five
years past termination where the re-
lationship has involved psychother-
apy. The College’s proposed regula-
tion, if approved, would mean that if
a physician has a sexual relationship
with a former psychotherapy patient
any time within the five years fol-
lowing termination, the physician
would be subject to mandatory
revocation. The regulation qualifies
that the “treatment provided by the
member to the individual involves
psychotherapy that is more than
minor or insubstantial.”
This regulation would supplement,
not replace, the Ministry’s regulation
defining a patient that came into
force on May 1st.
As detailed in an advisory that
was sent to all members in April,
changes to the College’s governing
legislation, which flow from Bill 87,
the Protecting Patients Act, means
that now, for the purposes of sexual
abuse, 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. The regu-
lation includes an exemption from
the definition if all of the following
conditions are satisfied: a sexual re-
ISSUE 2, 2018 DIALOGUE
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