OK to Suspend Doctor’s Privileges Based on Harassment of and Threats to Nurse

After a doctor and his wife separated, he began a ‘friendship’ with a nurse at the hospital where they worked. This friendship, however, deteriorated and turned into a one-sided obsession on his part. After several incidents and a threatening letter he sent to the nurse, the hospital suspended his privileges based on safety concerns. The Health Professions Appeal and Review Board dismissed the doctor’s appeal. The nurse had been subjected to workplace harassment and threats of violence by the doctor. In addition, he accessed her health records without consent. Although the doctor doesn’t currently pose a safety threat to the nurse, other staff or patients, the totality of his actions were sufficiently serious to warrant revocation of his privileges, concluded the Board [Gupta v. William Osler Health System, [2016] CanLII 17015 (ON HPARB), April 5, 2016].