Montreal Gazette

MD objected to my FB post: patient

Woman says negative post on closed Facebook group led to OB-GYN’s decision

- AARON DERFEL aderfel@postmedia.com twitter.com/Aaron_Derfel

Nearly a week after a pregnant woman in Notre-Dame-de- Grâce says her obstetrici­an-gynecologi­st dumped her as a patient after she posted a critical message about the doctor on a closed Facebook group, the woman is now fielding offers to be followed by other specialist­s.

The case of Courtney Orbin, who is four-and-half months pregnant, raises questions about freedom of expression in the age of social media as well the rights of patients and the profession­al obligation­s of physicians.

Orbin, who is 34, said she was informed during a medical consultati­on on July 18 by her then-doctor, Fanny Lamb, that Lamb would no longer be following her.

“She sprung this on me in an examinatio­n room after she checked my baby’s heartbeat,” Orbin recounted. “It was out of the blue. I was just shocked.

“She told me, ‘You were bad to my receptioni­st, you defamed me on the internet,’ ” Orbin quoted Lamb as saying.

Orbin pressed Lamb for more informatio­n. “She said, ‘You posted something on social media.’ I said the only thing I posted on social media was on a closed group on Facebook for parents. This is when she said the confidenti­ality is broken.”

Lamb, who is a faculty lecturer at McGill University’s medical school, was unavailabl­e for comment. The Montreal Gazette has left repeated email and phone messages for Lamb since Thursday. A receptioni­st on Thursday confirmed Lamb was working at her clinic, the Centre de gynécologi­e et de maternité de LaSalle.

On Friday, another receptioni­st who answered the phone ( but who did not give her name) said, “we have no comment to give you on this situation,” before hanging up.

Orbin, who is from New York City and is studying design at Concordia University, posted a Facebook message on June 4 in which she mentioned Lamb by name.

“It is normal for an OB-GYN to not be reachable?” she asked. “Signed up with a Dr. Fanny Lamb at LaSalle Gyno Centre and I have a test result that needs her attention but can’t even get a call back and the only person is a snotty receptioni­st who won’t even pass on a message.

“Is this what public health care is about? Medicaid doctors in the States are at least reachable. Feeling really disillusio­ned and worried.”

Orbin said she was with her husband at the clinic on July 18. She recalled that after she insisted on speaking to someone else at the clinic, six police officers were called to the scene. She denied that she or her husband were abusive in any way.

“The police said they heard the doctor’s side of the story, but they would not discuss my side of the story until I left the premises,” Orbin continued. “I didn’t want to upset the other mothers, so I just left.”

Orbin plans to file a complaint against Lamb with the Quebec College of Physicians, arguing Lamb should have arranged for a new doctor for her before the July 18 consultati­on.

“I would have preferred a letter or a call before the (July 18) appointmen­t, and I certainly sure as heck wouldn’t have agreed that she put her hands on me to examine me in any way, shape or form, even for the baby ’s heartbeat, if she felt this way,” Orbin said of Lamb.

On Monday, a nurse from the Royal Victoria Hospital at the Glen site called Orbin to arrange for an appointmen­t with a specialist, giving her options for two doctors. Orbin noted that the nurse told her Lamb faxed her medical informatio­n to the Royal Vic on July 19.

A spokespers­on for the College of Physicians declined to discuss Orbin’s case.

However, the spokespers­on alluded to several articles of the profession’s code of ethics outlining the profession­al obligation­s of a doctor who decides to no longer follow a patient.

Article 19 of the code stipulates that a “physician may put an end to a therapeuti­c relationsh­ip when there is reasonable and just cause to do so,” especially if mutual trust no longer exists. In such cases, “a physician must … before ceasing to do so, ensure that the patient can continue to receive the required care,” according to Article 35.

The code also requires that in such cases a physician must give a patient “advance notice within a reasonable period of time.”

“If a patient is dissatisfi­ed with the service received or believes the doctor is not respecting their profession­al obligation­s, the patient can make the College aware of the situation by submitting a request to investigat­e,” spokespers­on Cassandre Corbeil said by email.

She sprung this on me in an examinatio­n room after she checked my baby’s heartbeat. It was out of the blue.

 ?? GRAHAM HUGHES ?? Courtney Orbin, 34, says she was informed during a medical consultati­on on July 18 by her then-obstetrici­angynecolo­gist, Fanny Lamb, that Lamb would no longer be following her.
GRAHAM HUGHES Courtney Orbin, 34, says she was informed during a medical consultati­on on July 18 by her then-obstetrici­angynecolo­gist, Fanny Lamb, that Lamb would no longer be following her.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Canada