Diffusing Difficult Patients

The College of Alberta Physicians and Surgeons handed down a one-year suspension on a doctor for an affair with a female patient.

Dr. Marco Terwiel is a semi-retired family physician in Maple Ridge, B.C., who practises part-time in Nunavut, mainly through telemedicine. He also teaches part-time in the University of British Columbia undergraduate program in the department of family medicine. "I enjoy life every day in spite of the limitations advancing age impose."

Mini biography: After graduating from medical school in 1973, I practised family practice for 37 years and have finally retired to Bracebridge, Ont., and assist at surgery in Brantford, Ont. My busy practice kept me away from many of the pastimes I liked, but now I have time to fish. I delivered babies from 1976 to 1984, and after that only did office work. My hobby of scuba diving has taken me from Australia to Wakatobi to Borneo and to almost all the Caribbean islands. As long as it is warm, I will dive in it.

Dr. Kishore Singh is originally from Durban, South Africa, and got his medical degree from Natal University there in 1986. He is family physician and operates the Appleby Medical Centre in Burlington, Ont., with his wife, Arlini Singh. He is also an associate professor of family medicine at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont.

A doctor trained in India who moved to Canada to practise medicine lost everything he’d worked for when he was convicted for sexually assaulting a patient, a Manitoba court heard.

Extra training and awareness can assist in identifying patients who need help

Providing healthcare staff with a one-day training course on dealing with the sexual needs of people with an acquired physical disability gave staff a greater understanding of the issues facing patients and enabled providers to address intimate questions more comfortably and proactively, according to an Irish study.