"I made a mistake" - Ross Wheeler
Kirsten Murphy
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Jan 31/01) - A prominent addictions and mental health specialist was found guilty of improper conduct by a Medical Board Inquiry on Tuesday.
A four-person panel ruled Dr. Ross Wheeler contravened the Medical Act in remarks he made about a former patient and later a colleague, to Yellowknife Women's Centre executive director Arlene Hache in Nov. 1999.
ln a letter presented to the hearing, Hache stated she received a call from Wheeler. He said he was concerned about the complainant and asked if anyone had seen her.
"Dr. Wheeler said he knew she had left her post (job). He also said she had a history of alcohol and drug abuse and people were worried she had relapsed," Hache's letter states.
The complainant was on stress leave from her job as a counsellor when Wheeler made the comments.
The panel ruled that Wheeler's comments about the complainant's former alcohol and drug use crossed a professional boundary.
The complainant's lawyer Sarah Kay said her client felt "raped" by the disclosure.
The Stanton Regional Hospital physician, who also works for the Health and Social Services department, faces no disciplinary action, nor will the reprimand appear on his record with the NWT Medical Association. Dressed in jeans and a wool blazer, hair knit into a neat braid, Wheeler apologized to Morin and the panel.
"I made a mistake," he said, adding that he was concerned about the complainant's welfare. "I shouldn't have done it."
