Researchers from the University of Calgary say they’ve found key gaps in the way allegations and findings of sexual assault and misconduct against physicians are tracked and reported in Canada — and they argue that’s putting patients at risk.
Their new study, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, looked at hundreds of complaints between 2019 and 2024.
The researchers scoured media stories, court documents and provincial regulatory college websites looking for Canadian cases of sex- and gender-based violence, harassment and discrimination.
“It should be easy. But it took us over a year,” said Dr. Shannon Ruzycki, the study’s lead author.
The researchers eventually identified 208 physicians and 689 alleged victims, most of them women and girls.
“We’re well trained people who know how to use a database, who spend lots of time on the internet. And it was challenging for us to find out what were the outcomes, what actually happened,” and Ruzycki, an associate professor in the departments of medicine and community health sciences at the University of Calgary.
“Shouldn’t the general public have easy access to this information?”
The researchers uncovered a range of complaints, including sexual relationships with patients, voyerism and inappropriate physical exams.
Nearly one-third of cases related to sexual assault and another 36 per cent involved sexual boundary or sexual misconduct complaints.
Family medicine was the discipline most commonly cited.
The researchers found police complaints in 72 cases and report that 29 physicians were convicted.
In 13 cases physicians were criminally charged, the study noted, but there was no notification on their provincial regulatory college profile.
“We thought the lack of reporting and consistent transparent reporting really means that the regulatory bodies are not meeting their obligations to protect the public,” said Ruzycki.
According to Dr. Kirstie Lithgow, the study’s first author, about 30 per cent of the accused Canadian doctors had previous complaints.
“There’s a risk that if somebody is behaving in this way and abusing their power — and creating an unsafe environment for patients — they have the opportunity to harm a lot of people,” said Lithgow, a clinical associate professor at the University of Calgary’s Cumming School of Medicine.
The study’s authors are calling for a national registry that would include the complaint, discipline and criminal history of all practicing physicians.
“We need a standardized way of collecting this information and reporting it both for research purposes but also for the general public accountability and transparency,” said Ruzycki.
They said this could take the form of a stand-alone database or it could be incorporated into a pan-Canadian physician licensing program, which the Canadian Medical Association has been calling on governments to implement.
“I worry that from a patient perspective there isn’t a really good place to go to get reliable information,” said Lithgow.
Protections in place
According to Ruzycki, Alberta, Ontario, Prince Edward Island and Quebec have specific protections in place.
Alberta, for example, brought in mandatory penalties for health professionals in cases of sexual misconduct or abuse in 2019. The province also began requiring regulatory colleges to post the discipline history for sexual abuse or misconduct on a public-facing website.
In a statement, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta said it must follow privacy legislation when investigating complaints and balance the need to investigate with a physician’s right to “procedural fairness.”
“If allegations against a physician are proven by an independent CPSA Hearing Tribunal … the written decision is publicly available on the physician’s profile on our website, and a media release is distributed,” a spokepserson said in an email.
“Where the finding is related to sexual assault or misconduct, the discipline decision will remain on the physician’s profile indefinitely.“
According to the college’s standards of practice, a physician has a duty to self-report sexual abuse or sexual misconduct with a patient.
The CPSA said anyone with concerns about a physician’s conduct can submit a complaint.
“In the majority of cases where there have been criminal charges, we have also been notified by law enforcement. While physicians do have an obligation to self-report, this is the last resort in terms of complaints and not the first nor only source of complaints,” the spokesperson said.
Calgary police share information
The researchers also raised concerns about whether Canadian law enforcement agencies are informing regulatory colleges if they’ve charged or are investigating physicians.
A spokesperson for the Alberta college confirmed there is no formal agreement in place but said legislation allows for information sharing in situations where it is in the public interest.
CBC News reached out to the Calgary Police Service (CPS) to find out how it handles these situations.
A spokesperson said they “will always” inform the college if one of its members has been charged with a crime related to sexual assault, misconduct or harassment.
“Depending on the circumstances of an allegation, the CPS may also inform the CPSA of an ongoing investigation into one of its members, but that is determined on a case-by-case basis,” the email stated.
“The CPS encourages anyone who believes they have been victimized by a physician to contact police directly, in addition to any other professional organization they may inform.”
The college said a complaint can be started based on information from police and that CPSA often puts its own investigations on hold until a criminal matter is complete, in part to avoid interfering with criminal cases, as long as the public is protected through interim practice conditions or suspensions.
