B.C. doctor suspended 2 years for sexual relationship with patient

(File Photo)

A doctor who had a sexual relationship with a patient in a rural community in the B.C. Interior has been suspended from practice for two years.

Dr. Norman Keith Lea was practicing in Nakusp, B.C. in 2018 when he began a personal and sexual relationship with a patient, according to a public notification from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C.

The notification on the college's website indicates that Lea and the inquiry committee investigating his conduct reached a consent agreement that took effect on Aug. 31. The public notification wasn't published until Thursday, however.

In the consent agreement, Lea admitted to entering the relationship and to exchanging messages with the patient on Facebook and WhatsApp that were "flirtatious and sexualized."

Further, he admitted that "between August and December 2018, he repeatedly met with this patient on a personal and social basis, that his relationship with her became sexual, and that they had sexual intercourse at his medical clinic, in the on-call room at the Arrow Lakes Hospital, and at other locations around the community," according to the public notification.

The behaviour described in the public notification violates the college's professional standard regarding sexual misconduct.

That standard prohibits sexualized contact or behaviour of any kind between doctors and their patients, even relationships that would otherwise be considered consensual.

"Given the power imbalance inherent to the patient-registrant relationship, the patient is never in a position to provide consent," the standard reads.

As discipline for his misconduct, Lea agreed to a published reprimand and a two-year suspension from practice, six months of which can be stayed if other terms and conditions – specifically completion of a multi-disciplinary program, an interview with the college's registrar and compliance with any monitoring of his practice – are met.

The public notification describes the inquiry committee's rationale for accepting the consent agreement, saying the committee was "critical" of Lea's conduct.

"The committee stated that the registrant violated boundaries in the patient-physician relationship by not only entering a sexual and intimate relationship with a patient, but doing so during her scheduled appointments with him in his office," the notification reads.

"The committee expressed its concerns that Dr. Lea practised in a small, rural community, and conveyed that this practice setting requires an even greater degree of caution."