Surgeon in question has past sanctions

Failed to finish 494 colonoscopy files

The general surgeon at the centre of this week’s recall of 684 colonoscopy patients at the Lakeshore General Hospital admitted three years ago to grave errors in clinical judgment, The Gazette has learned. After the Pointe Claire hospital made the troubling admission Wednesday that more than a dozen people likely have developed cancer after being given falsely negative results stemming from incomplete exams, Aaron Derfel has confirmed that the doctor who performed the incomplete colonoscopies between 2009 and 2012 is Gilles Bourdon. In 2009, the Quebec College of Physicians found Bourdon guilty of failing to take the required medical notes within 24 hours of having performed operations, and of misinterpreting lab results. He was suspended for two months.

The general surgeon at the centre of the recall of 684 colonoscopy patients at the Lakeshore General Hospital has a long history of not taking proper medical notes and admitted three years ago to grave errors in clinical judgment, The Gazette has learned.

In 2005, the Quebec College of Physicians launched an investigation into Dr. Gilles Bourdon’s medical practice following a complaint by the widow of one of Bourdon’s patients.

Four years later, on March 18, 2009, Bourdon was found guilty by the professional order’s disciplinary council for failing to take the required medical notes within 24 hours of having performed operations.

Bourdon was also found guilty of misinterpreting the lab results of one of his surgical patients, and of failing to order additional exams to pinpoint the problem with the hospitalized woman’s biliary tract.

Bourdon was suspended from practising medicine for two months. During the disciplinary hearings, a doctor representing the College of Physicians testified that as of April 30, 2008, Bourdon had not completed 494 medical files on patients. Of that number, 409 files were missing the required post-operative dictation notes.

On Wednesday, Lakeshore officials announced that the Pointe-Claire hospital will recall 684 patients for urgent follow-up exams after determining that their initial colonoscopies, preformed from 2009 to 2012, were “in- complete.” A colonoscopy is a diagnostic procedure to check for pre-cancerous or malignant polyps in the colon. Upon detection, a doctor can snare and remove the polyps, preventing cancer from taking root.

Dr. Richard Ger main, president of the Lakeshore’s council of physicians, dentists and pharmacists, refused to identify the doctor, except to say he quit the hospital in January for reasons not related to the recall. However, The Gazette has confirmed that it was Bourdon who performed the colonoscopies that are missing notes and pictures.

In light of the botched colonoscopies, the College of Physicians has launched another investigation into Bourdon’s conduct, and in the meantime, has barred him from conducting colonoscopies or performing surgery in hospital. He has been allowed to carry out “minor proced- ures” at his private practice in Pointe-Claire.

Germain told reporters on Wednesday that the Lakeshore became aware of the botched colonoscopies in April following a routine quality-control review. Dr. Nadeem Ahmed, a gastroenterologist at the Lakeshore, has raised the possibility that signs of colorectal cancer might have been missed in at least a dozen patients and as many as 41.

The College of Physicians’ initial investigation into Bourdon’s conduct and its sanctions against him raise questions about the Lakeshore’s management of the general surgeon. Asked whether the College’s case against Bourdon raised any red flags at the Lakeshore three years ago, Germain responded:

“If you look at the overall picture of things, you will see that things are being done, things have been done. They may not have been done as fast as one would like in an ideal world, okay, I will say that. But we are striving to improve things for the better in all respects.”

Bourdon could not be reached for comment despite repeated attempts. An answering machine message at this Pointe-Claire office urged callers Thursday morning to phone after 2 p.m. When a reporter phoned in the afternoon, the outgoing message had been changed, saying that Bourdon would be out of the office until Monday morning.

Leslie Labranche, publicrelations coordinator for the College, said the professional order acted responsibly in dealing with the physician.

“The physician was suspended in 2009 for matters that did not have to do with colonoscopies,” Labranche said.

Bourdon had been practising at the Lakeshore for years before the 2009 cutoff point of the colonoscopy recall. Ahmed said the Lakeshore has decided to go back only three years, based on a medical advisory “template” of what to do in a similar situation.

That doesn’t sit well with a former patient of Bourdon, who underwent a colonoscopy by him in 2008.

“I’m going to call the hospital and ask for my colonoscopy results,” said the Dollard des Ormeaux woman, who spoke on condition that her name not be published.

“At the time, he said everything was fine, but he did the colonoscopy very fast. He was speedy Gonzalez.

“I don’t know why the hospital is not going back past three years,” she added.

Also, Bourdon is being sued by the daughter of the late Ivan Todorov, whose death was investigated by Quebec coroner Jean Brochu.