Richmond Hill
November 20, 2008 11:51 PM
Joe Fantauzzi
A former long-time Richmond Hill family doctor was ordered to take a course on doctor-patient boundaries and pay thousands in costs after admitting to professional misconduct.
Dr. Brian Kirsh practised in Richmond Hill for 13 years before moving to Hamilton in 2003, according to a College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario spokesperson, reading from an agreed statement of facts presented during a disciplinary hearing Tuesday.
Dr. Kirsh, the medical director of the chronic pain management unit for Hamilton Health Sciences at Chedoke Hospital, met a man and his wife about 18 years ago.
The three were members of a religious community in Richmond Hill and were involved in a religious study group. The doctor and the man’s wife worked closely together within the religious community.
The doctor developed feelings for the man’s wife but did not tell her, according to the college.
About 14 years ago, Dr. Kirsh saw the man for an annual physical examination.
After he moved to Hamilton, the doctor had little contact with the man or his wife.
However, in early 2007, the man’s wife contacted Dr. Kirsh to ask if she and her husband could meet with him. The three met at his practice in Thornhill, near the couple’s home.
At the beginning of the meeting, the doctor asked for the woman’s Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) card, according to the college.
During the meeting, which lasted about an hour, the couple sought the doctor’s advice regarding their marriage and the doctor asked them questions about the number of years they had been married.
He said he was not a marriage counsellor, told them they should seek out a marriage counsellor and in the interim, not make any hasty decisions.
The couple did not see Dr. Kirsh professionally after that.
The woman told the college she understood the doctor had seen them as family friends and not as a physician. Her husband believed they saw Dr. Kirsh in his professional capacity, according to the college.
After the meeting, the doctor’s staff submitted an OHIP claim for the one-hour session, which was eventually rejected as lacking information. Dr. Kirsh told his staff not to re-submit the claim, according to the college.
Later that same year, the doctor and the woman met again at the Thornhill practice where he told her about his feelings for her. She said her marriage was ending for reasons unrelated to the doctor. She later separated from her husband.
At no time did the doctor seek to date or attempt physical contact with the woman, according to the college.
The doctor later e-mailed the man, saying he had seen the man and his wife in a “spirit of friendship” and apologized if the man confused it with meeting in a doctor-patient relationship.
Dr. Kirsh admitted that he committed an act of professional misconduct by engaging in disgraceful, dishonourable or unprofessional conduct by erring in his judgement in failing to set distinct professional boundaries in his communication with the man.
Dr. Kirsh acknowledged he failed to communicate clearly to the man that he was not seeing the couple in his professional capacity, according to the college.
The college disciplinary committee accepted Dr. Kirsh’s plea, ordered a public reprimand, ordered him to take a course on understanding boundaries in doctor-patient relationships and pay the college’s costs in the amount of $3,650.
Dr. Kirsh had no disciplinary history.