Patients, nurses rally in support of Cape Breton doctor; call for ministerial review

Patients and nurses in front of City Hall along the Esplanade in Sydney on August 9, 2024. (Ryan MacDonald/CTV News)

Several dozen people who attended a rally on Friday evening in support of a Cape Breton doctor facing new allegations of professional misconduct and/or incompetence are calling for a ministerial review into Nova Scotia’s College of Physicians and Surgeons.

The College has set aside eight days, starting Monday, for a hearing in Halifax into the latest patient complaints against Dr. Manivasan Moodley, an obstetrician-gynecologist (OBGYN) at the Cape Breton Regional Hospital.

Moodley, who attended the rally in front of City Hall in downtown Sydney, told CTV Atlantic that the turnout of supportive patients and nurses shows that the allegations don’t reflect the way he practices medicine.

He added that the allegations have been difficult, personally and professionally.

"This has not only traumatized me, it's traumatized my family, my children,” Moodley said. “And each time the College does this and drag me to a hearing, my practice closes and I have to re-divert my patients, who put their trust, their confidence and their respect in the care."

According to information posted to Nova Scotia's College of Physicians and Surgeons website, one complaint from 2017 alleges Moodley made inappropriate comments about a patient's wish to have a tubal ligation to prevent pregnancy.

The two other complaints, both from 2020, had to do with episiotomies, a surgical incision used during some childbirths.

One of them alleges the procedure was done without consent, that the patient had her placenta removed when it may not have been necessary, and that she wasn't given pain medication.

It’s the second time Moodley has faced allegations from patients and disciplinary action from the College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Back in 2021, Moodley's license was suspended for five months after complaints from two patients of inappropriate sexual remarks. A public rally in support of Moodley was held outside Cape Breton’s largest hospital in January 2020, after those allegations became public.

“Working alongside Dr. Moodley, it just doesn’t seem like what we see from our side as nurses,” said Heather MacMullin, a registered nurse who has worked alongside Moodley for eight years and attended Friday’s rally. “He’s very accountable, compassionate – it’s just really surprising to read these remarks.”

Now, Moodley and his supporters are calling for a ministerial review of the College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Moodley said he feels racially targeted by the College.

In 2021, the College launched a review into how it served people of African descent. The external task force, led by Halifax lawyer Douglas Ruck, found a lack of understanding and action about racism and made a number of recommendations including better training and policies aimed at eliminating anti-Black racism.

"When you read the Douglas Ruck report, when you read the page 'Unsolicited Comments', you can clearly see that doctors want their platform and that many doctors have been traumatized and feel they have been discriminated (against),” Moodley said. “It's now time for all these physicians to come out, stand up and say what they want to say. And demand from the Premier, and demand from the Government of Canada and Nova Scotia, that there be a ministerial review."

The College of Physicians and Surgeons has not yet responded to Moodley’s comments.

CTV Atlantic has contacted the College for comment, but was told their sole spokesperson Dr. Gus Grant was on vacation.

On Thursday, the College issued a news release providing details of the upcoming hearing into the allegations against Dr. Moodley.

The release said that the hearing will begin Monday at the College of Physicians and Surgeons’ offices in Bedford, N.S., with dates also set aside for the proceedings Tuesday through Thursday, along with August 20-22 and August 26 if necessary.

An online petition in support of Dr. Moodley had more than 1,740 signatures as of Saturday afternoon.

For more Nova Scotia news visit our dedicated provincial page.