David Wylie, CanWest News ServicePublished: Monday, June 11, 2007 Canada.com
In the first case of its kind in B.C., an Okanagan doctor has been sentenced in Vernon provincial court to one count of aiding suicide after he tried to help a 93-year-old woman kill herself. Dr. Ramesh Kumar Sharma, a Vernon general practitioner, admitted in court in March that he tried to help a 92-year-old woman commit suicide. On Monday, in front of a packed Vernon courthouse, the well-known and well-liked doctor was sentenced to two years, less a day to be served in the community. The College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia has now erased Sharma as a member of its registry, removing his right to practise medicine in the province, said Dr. Elaine Peaston, one of the college's deputy registrar. I've never seen a case like this," she said. "That's a charge that the college fortunately has never had to deal with before."
Sharma was approached in June, 2006, by Ruth Wolf, who suffered from congenitive heart failure. She asked Sharma to help her die on her own terms, so he provided her with a deadly dose of pills.Stan Lowe, spokesperson for Crown counsel, said the defence and prosecution made a joint submission to the judge, asking for the conditional sentence. "As Crown counsel, we're not happy or sad or pleased by any outcome," he said. Lowe said this is the first case of the kind involving a doctor he's seen in his nearly two decades of practising law in B.C. He said mitigating factors in the case included that Sharma plead guilty at the outset and that the suicide was unsuccessful. Sharma has agreed to pay $9,000 to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia -- about 50% of its costs of doing its own, independent investigation into the allegations. This case isn't the first time Sharma had lost his right to practice medicine. He was suspended for one year after being found guilty of having sex with a patient in his office in January, 2001. Despite the doctor's troubled past, his patients have continued to characterize him as a caring, compassionate and competent family doctor.
(With files by CHBC News/Global)
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Doctor sentenced - VideoWeb posted on Monday, 11 June 2007 (CHBC VIDEO)
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