Popular Pointe- Claire ob- gyn suspended
Second disciplinary action in last three years for inadequate charting
The Collège des médecins du Québec has suspended a West Island obstetrician- gynecologist for three months and fined him $ 15,000, a second set of disciplinary actions against the popular doctor in less than three years.
The sanctions against Dr. Gilles Mercier follow a Quebec Superior Court decision rendered Jan. 23 and upholding two earlier rulings, one by the Collège’s disciplinary committee in 2012 and a second in February 2014 by the Tribunal des Professions, a professional review board.
The disciplinary action against Mercier is related to post- operative charting following 24 surgeries at the Lakeshore General Hospital between Sept. 28, 2007, and April 17, 2011.
Effective Jan. 29, the 73- yearold Mercier is prohibited from practising, said Leslie Labranche, a spokesperson for the Collège. The three- month suspension remains in effect until April 23, added Labranche.
On Monday morning, Mercier was unavailable to comment. His office was closed and a telephone answering machine instructed patients to contact the Lakeshore General Hospital in the case of an emergency.
Patients of Mercier have been referred to other doctors, said Sandrine Charpentier, a spokesperson for the CSSS de l’Ouest-de- l’Île, which administers the Lakeshore General and other West Island health and social services.
The three- month suspension is the second such disciplinary action against Mercier for inadequate charting.
In 2012, Mercier was suspended for two months and ordered to pay a $ 14,000 fine for post- operative charting following 22 surgeries at the Lakeshore General between Feb. 1, 2008, and June 9, 2009.
That decision, rendered June 28, 2102 by Quebec’s Tribunal des Professions, upheld an earlier ruling by the Conseil de Discipline of the Collège that found Mercier negligent in providing adequate reports in a timely fashion after surgeries, something he had been warned about for years.
The t wo- month suspension forced him to cancel 800 appointments and reschedule 30 surgeries.
At that time, Mercier, in an interview with the Montreal Gazette, said that he was being unfairly singled out.
He admitted that on occasion he had fallen behind in filing orally dictated reports from his written notes to the hospital’s medical archives. But he said he had never compromised patient care and that he has diligently kept written notes of patient visits and surgeries in his more than 40 years of practice.
Were a post- operative patient to come in to the hospital’s emergency department requiring additional care, he said, his notes contained pages of details about her surgery, incisions, complications, abnormal findings, prescribed medications and operating staff.
Many of Mercier’s patients, among them new mothers, expectant mothers and other women protested that decision, waving placards outside the downtown offices of the Collège and leaving comments on a Facebook page, titled “Bring Back Our Dear Dr. Mercier.”
Taedra St. Harris, a West Island mother of two, the younger of which was delivered by Mercier, is an administrator of the Facebook page. On Feb. 3, she said, she posted a notice on the page to inform its members of the latest disciplinary action.
It read in part: “So once again our Dr. Mercier has been suspended. Not for anything new or for recent infractions. He lost his recent case before the Superior Court despite proving himself up to date on all his files.”
Since then, she said, many of the doctors’ patients have left posts expressing their frustration with the Collège’s dealing with Mercier, likening it to bullying and questioning its commitment to patient care and safety.
“I was supposed to have my postpartum checkup yesterday,” wrote Kelly Wilson- Radthe. “Thankfully, everything is fine. But I still need to see another doctor, which means waiting for another appointment. Where is the safety in that?”
“How horrible,” wrote Angie Hale, another patient. “I could not have asked for better ( care) than he gave me and my family.”
“So sad ... such a great doctor,” wrote Brenda Muise.
Harris said Mercier’s office appeared to be doing its best to refer patients to other doctors but for many women, especially those late in their pregnancies, the transfer is unsettling.
“I hope one day the Collège will focus more on patients needs rather than bullying doctors,” said Harris, citing her own post on Facebook.