One victim not enough?

For immediate release – July 05, 2007

The Provincial Advisory Council on the Status of Women is disturbed the New Brunswick College of Physicians and Surgeons says it would have taken a complaint that a psychiatrist had sexual encounters with a patient more seriously had it known about the possibility of a second victim.

In an interview with The Telegram, the NB College’s registrar, Ed Schollenberg, says if the NL College had notified his organization of the second complaint against Doctor James B. Hanley, which was later withdrawn, they would have “responded differently to the matter.” Instead, they did nothing because they felt it was an “isolated matter.”

How much more information did the NL College have to provide before its New Brunswick counterpart decided it needed to do something about Hanley? Now that a second woman has contacted the NB College, saying Hanley also had sex with her while he practiced in Newfoundland and Labrador, the NB College is backpedaling. Schollenberg says if the NB College had known about the second complaint, it would have taken the matter more seriously.

In Newfoundland and Labrador, Hanley’s license was suspended and an investigation was launched after a patient complained he’d had sex with her. Hanley agreed not to practice in New Brunswick, where he also held a license. But the NB College allowed him to keep his license and work at CFB Gagetown, saying it could not take action because it did not have the full details of the complaint. In March of this year, the NL College completed its investigation and Hanley was officially stripped of his license. Finally, the NB College took the matter seriously and suspended Hanley’s license.

How could this happen? How could one College sound the alarm and another ignore it? If NB’s College of Physicians and Surgeons did not have a responsibility to protect the NB public from Hanley, who did? This case demonstrates a serious lack of national protocol for dealing with doctors under investigation. It seems that suspended doctors who have licenses in more than one jurisdiction can simply skip town and set up shop in another province or territory.

Hanley’s case suggests there are different standards between jurisdictions. We are deeply troubled Hanley’s undertaking not to practice medicine was not enforced in New Brunswick. Hanley breached his undertaking and the NB College did not feel it was their responsibility to enforce it.

The NL and NB Advisory Councils have been digging into the issues raised by this case for some time. We are alarmed at how badly it has been handled. The fact that neither the NB College nor the military saw fit to protect the public from Hanley raises many serious questions. In June, we wrote to each of the federal, provincial and territorial governments, along with all the medical organizations across the country. We have yet to receive a reply from anyone.

We are concerned about women’s safety. We are very concerned about the procedures followed by the College of Physicians and Surgeons in this country when it comes to information sharing and enforcing sanctions.

We would like someone to tell us how this could happen and who will keep it from happening again.

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Media Contact:

Leslie MacLeod - President/CEO 753-7270 | lesliemacleod@pacsw.ca