Abortion MD agrees to retire at hearing
An Ottawa abortion doctor who kept his clinic in an old downtown house so cluttered and unhygienic that two dozen patients were put at grave risk of infection, and whose practices were so bad he sent anesthetized women home alone in taxis, has agreed to leave medicine forever rather than fight Ontario’s medical regulator for his licence.
Wee Lim Sim, who has also worked at a clinic in Montreal, is already well past retirement age, and appeared frail yesterday at his discipline hearing in Toronto, shuffling around in winter boots.
He agreed to resign from the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons, and never reapply, after admitting to professional misconduct. A charge of incompetence was withdrawn as part of the plea deal.
In their reprimand, members of the college’s discipline committee said it is “disheartening” to see a physician kicked out of the profession at the end of a “valued career, especially so when that career has been in an area which has provided controversy, conflict and even threats of harm to its practitioners.”
The committee went on to “roundly condemn” his ineffective infection control, improper delegation to his staff, poor record keeping, and rude, aggressive style of communication. For example, he had a form letter for patients that read: “If you do not keep quiet, your surgery will be cancelled and you will have to go to another doctor.
Sim’s only response to the reprimand was “Thank you sir.” Outside the hearing room, however, he was dismissive.
“I did a few things not according to the standards of the college,” he said. “With enough skill and experience you can do without many of those things.”