A small sign sits on the corner of the front desk at a Nova Scotia medical clinic.

The greeting card sized sign reads, “Dr. Leo Wisniowski does not provide counselling or psychotherapy “

But if patients ask why, they won’t hear about Dr. Wisniowski’s sexual relationship with a patient that resulted in him being banned from providing the services.

“It’s pretty self-explanatory, just the fact that he doesn’t offer to do it,” says Carla Livingston, officer manager at ScotiaMed Family Practice and Walk-in Clinic in Bedford.

Livingston says, if asked she would only tell patients that Dr. Wisniowski doesn’t provide those services but so far, no patients have inquired about the sign.

But patient advocate and owner of Patient Pathways, Connie Jorsvik, believes patients have a right to know the full story.

“If people don’t know then they go into a doctor’s office trusting that they’re going to get the best care possible and that a doctors not going to do something like that,” Jorsvik says.

The Case

In 2005 The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia suspended Dr. Wisniowski’s medical license for a year, after a complaint from the female patient.

“They discussed her childhood, her relationship with her family and friends,” the doctor’s settlement agreement with the college reads. “During one session during which [she] began crying and feeling helpless Dr. Wisniowski offered her a hug.”

The hugs grew longer and eventually lead to the sexual relationship that Dr. Wisniowski says occurred during a stressful time in his life.

Benjamin Capps, a professor in the department of bioethics at Dr. Wisniowski’s alma mater, Dalhousie University, says the school covers the topic of appropriate boundaries and sexual relationships with patients in its professional competencies program.

Capps says having sex with a patient creates an inappropriate relationship.

“Ethically it raises issues about power and exploitation,” says Capps.

Dr. Carol Leet, the former president of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario discussed sexual relationships between doctors and patients in a recent article from the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

“There is no such thing as a consensual sexual relationship between a doctor and a patient,” says Dr. Leet states in the article. “There is a power imbalance that makes it impossible for a patient to actually be consenting to having that relationship.”

The family doctor now has restrictions on his license including being prohibited from engaging in marriage counseling and any form of psychological counselling and being restricted to treating patients only within his regular office hours, which must not be in the evening.

The doctor also had to undergo psychotherapy treatment.

Restriction’s on Dr. Wisniowski’s license

‘Every woman has the right to feel safe’

Jorsvik has dealt with several cases involving doctors and sexual misconduct and says she doesn’t think the cases are rare.

“I feel there are a lot of doctors who are sexually assaulting their patients and getting away with it,” Jorsvik says.

A study, published in the journal Open Medicine, found 606 Canadian doctors had been disciplined from 2000 to 2009.

Sexual misconduct was the most common violation, making up 20 per cent of the types of violations disciplined.

Jorsvik says her biggest concern is the safety of female patients.

“Every woman has the right to feel safe when they go into a doctor’s office,” says Jorsvik. “Women especially are very vulnerable to being complaint, so they get into situations with people in power, who they think know best.”