Suspended immediately: Doctor who had sexual relationship with opioid-addicted, paraplegic man found guilty of sexual abuse of a patient

An Alberta doctor who had a sexual relationship that took advantage of an “extremely vulnerable, disabled, opioid-dependent individual who was her patient” has been suspended from practice pending a sanction hearing. Dr. Brianne Hudson, a family physician from Grande Prairie, engaged in the sexual abuse of a patient—who became a paraplegic after a workplace accident—between August and November 2019 and subsequently lied about it in her certification renewal form, according to the hearing tribunal of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta. Dr. Hudson disclosed the relationship to the college in January 2020 and was asked by the college’s complaints director to withdraw temporarily from practice, which she agreed to do. A month later, the college received a complaint from the patient’s parents alleging that Dr. Hudson had overstepped her ethical boundaries. Her practice permit has been suspended immediately, effective January 9. Read: CPSA has 3 practice standards on hot topics open for public consultation About a year before the patient’s parents lodged their complaint, the college received a complaint from the director of a correctional facility where the patient, who had been incarcerated by a court, was ordered to be held in custody. According to the decision document issued by the college’s hearing tribunal, when the correctional facility tried to transfer the patient to a hospital closer to the facility, Dr. Hudson denied the transfer without a medical reason and questioned the need for the facility’s staff to monitor the patient while in hospital. At the time, Dr. Hudson also brought the patient food from McDonalds, lent him her cell phone—a claim Dr. Hudson said she did not recall doing or not doing—and paid a $500 bail for the patient to be released from custody. Read: 'Significant risk': Doctor suspended who had sexual relations with patient he was treating for mental health issues Dr. Hudson told the college she also found a wheelchair for the patient, as well as accessible housing which she took him to view. She co-signed his lease, paid his damage deposit and first month’s rent. Dr. Hudson also admitted that she agreed to use the patient’s bank card to transfer $2,000 from his bank account to a law firm that would represent him in upcoming court proceedings. She also agreed to facilitate communications between the patient and his lawyer. In her May 2019 response to the complaint from the correctional facility, Dr. Hudson stated that after the patient was discharged from the hospital in February 2019, they began a close relationship that included hugging and kissing on the cheek but they had not engaged in any sexual contact. The complaint was resolved in August 2019 through a memorandum of understanding that required Dr. Hudson accepting a referral to the Physician Health Monitoring Program and attending the Alliance Assessment Center in Houston, Tx. Dr. Hudson also agreed to take a course on professionalism and ethics. Read: Disparaging defence: Doctor suspended for sexual abuse portrayed patient as a promiscuous weed smoker Dr. Hudson told the college that after she came back from the Alliance Assessment Center, her relationship with the patient became increasingly personal and intimate, and that she engaged in sexual contact with him on two occasions in August and November 2019. Dr. Hudson has said that the last day she interacted with the patient as his doctor was in December 2018. However the patient’s father said he believed a doctor-patient relationship existed between late 2019 and early 2020. In particular, the father cited a text Dr. Hudson sent him that said “I just called the pharmacy and they said (the patient) has been off (suboxone) since November … That’s not good.” Read: Physician with 'great bedside manner' sentenced to four years in prison

Suspended immediately: Doctor who had sexual relationship with opioid-addicted, paraplegic man found guilty of sexual abuse of a patient

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