Can doctor continue to practice?

By Scott NeufeldThursday, August 3, 2006 http://www.dailycourier.ca/article_419.php
Charged with helping a patient make a suicide attempt, a Vernon doctor may face a long court battle, throwing his ability to practis medicine into question.The College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia will be investigating whether or not Dr. Ramesh Sharma should be allowed to continue to operate as a general practitioner. Notified of the charges on Tuesday, the college is not allowing Sharma to practice for the rest of the week, said registrar Dr. Morris VanAndel. He said the board will be making a decision on Sharma’s future but no decision date has been set.“That hasn’t been determined as yet,” he said. “We only became aware of the criminal charges (Tuesday).”Police announced Tuesday that Sharma had been arrested and charged with aiding or abetting a person to commit suicide, a penalty which carries a 14 year maximum sentence. Sharma is alleged to have attempted to help a patient at a Vernon residential care home to end her life. According to police, the attempt was interrupted by staff at the care home and the patient is still alive.An investigator told a local television station that a lethal dose of pills was found in the woman’s room.The court proceeding has been placed under a publication ban but several details including the patient’s name and the care home where the incident took place have been reported. Despite the release of the information, police won’t say anything further about the circumstances that led to Sharma being charged.“We don’t want to get into anything that could jeopardize the case here,” said Vernon RCMP spokesman Gordon Molendyk.VanAndel said the board decision will likely take into account the circumstances surrounding the allegations leveled against Sharma and try to determine whether or not patients are endangered by allowing the doctor to continue his practice.“The bottom line is public protection,” he said. “It’s in the public’s interest to minimize the potential of him repeating what he is alleged to have done.”The college does not have a stated policy on physician assisted suicide, VanAndel said. He said the organization as a whole won’t take a position that is against the law. “This is a criminal matter but certainly there are variations in personal opinion with regard to assisted suicide,” he said. “But the college has taken no position on that.”Suspending a physician is a different scenario than in other professions, VanAndel said. “The reality is with physicians they’re self-employed,” he said. “There’s no such thing as suspended with pay.”Suspending the physician may be difficult because the sanction would cut the doctor off from his source of income. Past cases have ruled that physicians cannot be suspended based solely on allegations, VanAndel said.“To name their basis of disciplinary action based on accusations that are so far unproven is not sustainable in court,” he said. “For a full suspension there has to be sufficient grounds of public risk.”