On May 1, 2018, important amendments to the Protecting Patients Act, 2017 and the Regulated Health Professions, Act, 1991 (RHPA), came into effect.
Definition of a Patient
The new regulation expands the definition of a patient, for the purposes of sexual abuse. A patient includes any one of the following:
- a person who received health care services from the member and payment is charged or received,
- an entry is made by the member to the health record for the person,
- the person has provided consent to a health care service recommended by the member, or
- the member prescribed a drug for the person.
Exception: the person is not a patient for the purposes of sexual abuse, even if any of the above criteria are met, where the services provided are in an emergency situation.
Mandatory Reporting of Charges, Release Restrictions, and Reporting
All members are required to report any findings of criminal offence charges or release restrictions including bail conditions or other restrictions imposed on the member as soon as possible to the College.
Under the new regulations that came into effect, the College’s public registry will include the following information:
- criminal or drug offence findings,
- release restrictions for criminal or drug offence charges or findings,
- outstanding criminal or drug offence charges,
- disciplinary findings (but not incapacity findings) by another regulator, and
- registration status with another regulator.
Expansion of Mandatory Revocation Provisions
The new regulation expands the mandatory revocation provision for when a member has been found guilty in any of the following offences:
- 151 – Sexual interference
- 152 – Invitation to sexual touching
- 153 – Sexual exploitation
- 153.1 – Sexual exploitation of a person with disability
- 160 (3) – Bestiality in the presence of or by a child
- 162 – Voyeurism
- 162.1 – Publication, etc., of an intimate image without consent
- 163.1 – Child pornography
- 170 – Parent or guardian procuring sexual activity
- 171.1 – Making sexually explicit material available to a child
- 172.1 – Luring a child
- 172.2 – Agreement or arrangement – sexual offence against a child
- 271 – Sexual assault
- 272 – Sexual assault with a weapon, threats to a third party or causing bodily harm, and
- 273 – Aggravated sexual assault.
If a member has been found guilty of any of the above-noted criminal offences, their Certificate of Registration will be revoked by a panel of the Discipline Committee.
Legislation
Protecting Patients Act, 2017. Schedule 1, s 3, 4(3), 5 and Schedule 5, s. 5(1), (7), 6, 7, 18, 26, 27, 28, 31
Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991. Schedule 2, Health Professions Procedural Code. Subsection 1 (6), 23(2) 51 (5.2) (a)
