The registrar of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New Brunswick says he’s shocked by the backlash of comments that have been made online against a woman who filed a complaint about a well-known Fredericton doctor, leading to his suspension.
Dr. Everette Hanson has been suspended for 18 months because of an improper relationship with a patient.
College registrar Dr. Ed Schollenberg said the public doesn’t know all the facts and are making assumptions about the circumstances and are posting malicious and crude comments about the woman.
“Unfortunately, some of the online comments and information has identified the complainant, made personal comments about her and she’s been subject to some unpleasant Facebook and email comments,” Schollenberg said.
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On Monday, a Fredericton man launched a petition asking Schollenberg to reconsider the length of the suspension.
As of Thursday afternoon, the petition had more than 3,800 signatures from people across New Brunswick, Canada and from across the world.
Schollenberg said he couldn’t get into specifics surrounding the case but said whether a relationship with a patient is consensual or not, it’s always inappropriate. He said the woman had her own family doctor, but Hanson continued to see her at his walk-in clinic during the time he was having a personal relationship with her.
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“People are entitled to have their opinions, but like anything else, their opinions are based on the opinions they have, and they don’t have a complete picture,” Schollenberg said.
“Physicians have interactions with patients, they have intimate and confidential interactions, they are in a situation where they can take advantage of patients who may not know they’re being taken advantage of.”
Stephen Berthelot started the petition and told Global News he completely disagrees with any threats or negative comments being made and said he wants to make sure people know there is no ill-intent behind the petition.
Berthelot said he has no contact with Hanson and launched the petition independently because he believes the punishment doesn’t fit the crime.
He said he will continue to leave the petition up, and said it’s strictly in support of the physician, not negative comments.
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Katie Love signed the petition and said she did so to demonstrate her support for Hanson in terms of hoping to see the duration of the suspension reduced.
“I am not making a statement in regards to the acknowledged professional misconduct, rather requesting a review of the suspension in correlation with the information the public has been provided,” Love told Global News on Thursday.
“It is without question that the threats made to the couple involved in this case are completely separate from the intent of the petition,” Love said.
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Schollenberg said he’s tried to correct the sites where the woman’s name was shared, and said it was mutually agreed upon with the physician and complainant that not all the details would come out.
“Like anything else, people know something and then they decided they have to share it with everybody,” Schollenberg said. “It was one of the reasons that highlighted for us the difficulty that would have arisen from a public hearing which people could have attended and commented on… Whether it would have changed things for everybody to have every single fact, I don’t know.”
He said he’s surprised by the public’s reaction to the suspension and said in a world where there’s been a shift in attitude, such as the #MeToo movement, it’s strange to see negative things being posted.
“We’re kind of in a culture now where in the last few months, which was talking a lot about harassment and inappropriate relations between men and women, and people are just seeming to not see that in that context,” Schollenberg said.
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