Gatineau doctor threatened, slapped mentally ill, HIV-positive patient
From montrealgazette.com
A Gatineau doctor has been found guilty of breaching Quebec’s Code of Ethics of Physicians for slapping, threatening and insulting an inebriated, suicidal, HIV-positive patient after she spat in his face.
A disciplinary council of the Collège des médecins du Québec found Dr. Luc-Philippe Lacroix guilty of breaching Article 17 of the Code of Medical Ethics “by failing to have irreproachable conduct by attacking (his patient) physically and verbally.” The judgment was written May 25, but released Wednesday.
Lacroix has been practising medicine for 25 years, and has no previous infractions before the Collège disciplinary council.
The woman, whose name is protected by a publication ban, arrived at the emergency room at the Hôpital de Gatineau on the afternoon of January 31, 2015. She told the triage nurse that she had been beaten by police the night before. She said she felt suicidal, had consumed a bottle of vodka and swallowed all of her medication (Haldol) an hour earlier. The nurses noted that she was intoxicated and had bruises around her neck and on her body.
The patient’s file at the hospital indicated she suffered from a mental illness, that she was HIV-positive and had Hepatitis C, and had a history of drug and alcohol abuse.
Shortly after her arrival at the hospital, the patient passed out on the floor of the waiting room. She was transported to a “shock room”, where acutely ill patients are stabilized before being transferred to intensive care or elsewhere.
When a nurse refused the patient’s request to be allowed to leave, she became agitated and began swallowing more pills that she took from her pocket.
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