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| Dr. Donald Kilby accepting the Nelson Mandela Humanitarian Award in 2014. |
Recent criminal charges of a medical doctor covertly filming a young female patient at University of Ottawa Health Services causes one to examine that institution.
U of O Watch has discovered that the Director of Health Services, Dr. Donald Kilby, has been disciplined by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) for alleged financial coercion of a Black foreign student and patient for sexual service.
In its October 19, 2017 discipline report, the CPSO puts it this way:
[...] A patient (whose country of origin is outside Canada) complained to the College that after initiating financial support for the patient’s studies in Canada, Dr. Kilby said he would not continue to support the patient unless they were sexually intimate. The patient was also concerned that Dr. Kilby treated him for a certain condition and offered to give him a related vaccine, but then said the vaccine would cost $1500; the patient also claimed that Dr. Kilby did not tell him of risks associated with the patient’s condition.
Dr. Kilby denied the patient’s claims. He said he absolutely never made any suggestion to the patient that his financial support was conditional upon entering into a sexual relationship. He acknowledged treating the patient’s condition, but said he never gave him incorrect information and that he offered the patient employment at a clinic to help pay expenses, which could include a vaccine.
[...] As to the concern that Dr. Kilby threatened to withhold funds from the patient unless they engaged in a sexual relationship, the Committee concluded that a referral to the Discipline Committee was not warranted in all the circumstances of the case, as there was no reasonable prospect of successfully prosecuting the concern.
However, the Committee stated that it did have concerns about Dr. Kilby’s overall understanding of boundaries with patients, noting:
• The investigative record describes how Dr. Kilby has funded many students to come to Canada for university education, and how (among other forms of support) he has arranged (and often paid for) things such as part-time work and housing for them.
• By Dr. Kilby’s own admission, he provided episodic treatment to the patient (whether he made statements attributed to him about a vaccine was unknown to the Committee),and he admits to treating some of the other students for whom he provided financial support.
• Dr. Kilby indicated that, on reviewing the College policy, Physician Treatment of Self, Family Members or Others Close to Them, he recognized it could be perceived that the students fell under the definition of “others close to him.”
• Dr. Kilby indicated he has taken steps to ensure he will not treat the patient and he has drafted a letter to the other students under his care advising he was making arrangements to transfer their care.
The Committee noted that while it was important that Dr. Kilby has recognized the problem in treating the students whom he sponsored and often continued to support financially, the Committee was concerned by his actions to begin with, which reflected poor judgement on his part. The Committee said it needed reassurance that Dr. Kilby will not treat these students going forward, and that he fully understands his obligations in not treating those close to him and maintaining appropriate boundaries with patients at all times. The Committee decided the two-fold disposition set out above was appropriate in all the circumstances of this case.
