Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 21, 1990, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free january Page 3 Patrick City editor Racquet club faces mortgage Public appeals urged to save local Phi free press m go Jef College horror stories secrecy m on trial woman wins suit against doctor after filing unsuccessful complaint with College of physicians and surgeons by Alexandra Paul Mary Ann Monkman sued her doctor and but when the former cancer patient took her Case to the physicians policing nothing it was the same Story for Elizabeth Semkiw and Helen Cowell their complaints went Down a dark the three whose beefs stretch Back a All say the College of physicians and surgeons of Manitoba brushed off their complaints and failed to punish their Monkman won a damage award last month after a court of Queens Bench judge ruled Gur Balbir Singh was negligent in filing to Tell her that a pathology report had found cancer in her right Singh is a plastic surgeon who performed a breast reduction for Monkman in 1983 after she lost her other breast to an earlier cancer the new cancer want treated until a year when another doctor saw the pathology report and asked for a further although Singh blamed the pathologist and Hospital for failing to Send him the report Justice Peter Morse disagreed and found him says the award was just a slap on the wrist and will do Little to prevent such mistakes from but Shes especially angry and disillusioned with the this was one person saying to the medical profession this doctor did me wrong and if you think so give him and they said it was an Semkiw complained about the treatment of her Mother and sister at the hands of their family her sister died in 1976 of complications from spinal muscular a genetic nerve Semkiw filed nine complaints with the College against the who she declined to claiming he was callous in his the doctor told my Cousin that if my sister did not respond to treatment he would not do anything to keep her she Semkiw said her died of cancer in 1980 after years of verbal harassment from the doctor Over the family complaints about the Sisters Semkiw recalled an incident that almost broke her Mother called in by the doctor Over a dispute concerning the Sisters autopsy the elderly woman was treated to a temper Tantrum by the she he ended up throwing my Sisters autopsy report in her he said go Home and read the gory Semkiw said the College ignored the doctors it was a i got a reply from them i had a poor attitude toward the Semkiw persevered with her complaints and ended up facing the colleges complaints it was like sitting in a room full of there was nothing objective or logical in any of their she frustrated by the Semkiw joined a patient advocacy movement launched by the Manitoba association of rights and generally there is distrust from especially toward the said Marl patient rights committee chairman Gordon you hear so often that doctors Are just sticking up for that Mon mans beef in a the College told her no action would be taken on her Twoy Earold cancer complaint against Singh unless she pushed the error was in the nature of a lapse which is not Likely to particularly in Light of the procedural changes it told her in a 1987 Mary Ann Monkman won in damages from her Phil free press Elizabeth Semkiw says facing College complaints committee was like sitting in room full of the College added that Singh had changed his office procedures and urged similar reforms at Boniface general where Monkman was to prevent future slip ups with pathology two years after her court Case was Monkman Learned the Hospital never made the changes promised by the Boniface spokesman Lisa Macdougall said the Hospital needed recommendations from Singh before it could and never received Monkman said Shes furious that the College apparently took Singh at his word without ensuring action was and she wonders if the body vested interest in the medical fraternity skewed its handling of her i dont think that for one moment they were trying to protect the but i think their sympathies were with close door system Monkman said she still believes doctors Are the Only ones with the expertise to judge technical medical but the experience has soured her on the current close door you cant really win with the medical can you Monkman eventually lost her second breast to the court was told the yearlong delay in forced her into extensive surgery and including six months of painful but the judgment did not she lost her hair and toenails and was plunged into prolonged anguish and loss of a dedicated teacher at an intercity school and the Mother of three grown the experience left Monkman she cant work anymore and lives quietly on private disability payments with one son and her Many animals five cats and three Helen cowells died in Hospital from complications after falling from her wheelchair in she had a Hole in her Temple As big As a thumb and she broke her hip it led to Cowell Vienn free press Walker predicts glasnost in College of physicians and her Mother had been in relatively Good health for her until she stumbled from the wheelchair at Victoria general she Cowell said the family had insisted he Mother be kept in restraints for her c but on the Day the elderly woman it there were no restraints on the she blaming her family doctor for failing to ensure her Mother had a Lap Belt on her Cowell took her complaint to the health minister Larry former tory critic Don the Hospital and the there was some talk about cowells t a it is just one of Many passing through i c i various i Felt it never got a satisfactory answer from Cowell Here is somebody who died of negligence and we never even got an she said charter pushes at locked doors by Alexandra Paul constitutional clashes could throw open the locked doors of the College of physic ians and surgeons of we might As Well proceed As if that is the Way things Are going to Deputy registrar Bob Walker proceedings of disciplinary inquiries against doctors charged with misconduct under the medical act Are now kept Brief details and doctors names Are re leased if an inquiry finds but in the Federal charter of rights and freedoms last month persuaded that provinces College to open up the first of its 60odd annual disciplinary hear if the Manitoba College ignores the Ontario the Issue could be taken out of its Walker the government could change the act at any particularly if the rules on i camera hearings might be considered he As a the College executive com Mittee referred the Issue to its legislation and ethics committee this the idea would be in Gener inquiries shall be open an entire inquiry or part of one can be returned to i camera under certain Cir Walker but opening up the held against two or three doctors each could take six months to a if at he the Only other provincial medical col Leges that hold open disciplinary hearings Are in Saskatchewan and the medical profession has no control Over its a role assumed by stat appointed licensing with open disciplinary said James executive Vic president of the federation of medical boards in the the system is plugged with backlogs and open trials Are he but it makes Medicine accountable to the pub in the soviet the system is split by with such As having the right to govern soviet embassy press attache Andrei Stulov said from such As Are regulated by the in the colleges decision to open its doors was prompted by charter arguments from the the Globe and mail capped a lengthy Battle for open hearings by persuading the colleges health disciplines committee that Section of Ontario health disciplines act offended the Amend statute that governing All major health related regulatory said All disciplinary hearings must be in this is the first time an administrative body governed by Ontario statute has been opened up by the Globe lawyer Peter Jacobsen the Ontario ministry of health is expected to Amend the which also came under fire recently in a exhaustive five year review of the Ontario health Anne of the Ontario patients right said the charter Case and the legislative review will help make patients equal partners in health it almost seems that when youre your rights Are taken away from you and someone else decides whats Best for Coy Ontario College spokesman Jill Hefley said there is no going Back to the secrecy of the the College knows that this is the Way of the future and it believes its disciplinary process can stand up to Public the colleges in Saskatchewan and Quebec still Reserve the right to close All or part of their spokesmen but in Saskatchewan and publication bans refer Only to patients names or their intimate medical doctors names Are always they the Saskatchewan College opened its hearings a decade ago and later entrenched the policy in its medical glasnost is Here to said Saskatchewan registrar Dennis Ken Del also president of the umbrella group for Canadian the federation of medical licensing authorities of there is a higher expectation from the Public for accountability from All the pro to the it has the reassurance of a Public Kendel Drew a Stark comparison be tween closed disciplinary trials and secret courts in foreign in countries that conduct closed there tends to be a poor record of human he but these hearings in Saskatchewan Arent Kangaroo in the province overruled Strong professional objections and used legislation in 1988 to open the disciplinary hearings of 41 including lawyers and Augustine president of the professional corporation of physicians of que said that seeing the process at work has tempered his initial he said he had expected Media fear knowing the tendency of journalists to but after a year he has found few ;