Out for good: Former B.C. and Alta. health official loses medical license after child sexual abuse conviction

The former top doctor for one of B.C.’s regional health authorities has lost his license to practice medicine in the province after being convicted and jailed for a sex crime against a child.In a notice to the public published on May 20, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia (CPSBC) announced that former chief medical officer of Interior Health Dr. Albert Stefanus De Villiers had signed an agreement with the college’s inquiry committee to resign from the profession as of May 2 and never reapply.“The Inquiry Committee concluded that Dr. De Villiers’s conduct was egregious and determined that his irrevocable commitment to resign as a registrant of CPSBC and to never reapply for registration in British Columbia or any other jurisdictions was appropriate in the circumstances,” the college said in a news release.In February 2023, Dr. De Villiers was found guilty of the charge of sexual interference of a child under 16 and sentenced to five and a half years in prison. In court, Dr. De Villiers was found to have sexually touched a child in Grande Prairie, Alta. multiple times over a two-year period, in addition to showing pornographic videos to the child. The incidents were found to have taken place between 2018 and 2020, when he was working as the medical officer of health for Alberta's north zone. In August 2020, Dr. De Villiers moved to Kelowna to work as the top doctor for Interior Health until the charges were laid in 2021, at which point he was placed on administrative leave. Dr. De Villiers was terminated from Interior Health after the conviction.Dr. De Villiers also had his license revoked by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta (CPSA) in July 2024 and ordered to pay 100% of the costs of the investigation. Dr. De Villiers’ counsel submitted that his license should not be revoked, arguing that he was “a very active, respected member of the community” and submitted letters of support from community members. However, the CPSA’s hearing tribunal was not convinced, and said that his De Villiers’ actions “damaged the public confidence in the profession, violated public trust, and offended the expectations for physicians’ behaviour.”“Because the conduct occurred in private, the letters were of limited use. Sexual abusers will rarely make their conduct publicly known. The character letters did not persuade the hearing tribunal that a lengthy suspension would adequately protect the public or the integrity of the profession,” they wrote in their decision.

Out for good: Former B.C. and Alta. health official loses medical license after child sexual abuse conviction

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