Nature of Action: Under section 33(6)(c) of the Health Professions Act, the Registrant gave undertakings:

• not to repeat the conduct of:
  • disclosing inappropriate personal information to a patient,
  • engaging in inappropriate and unprofessional communications with a patient, and
  • entering into a personal, romantic and sexual relationship with a patient;
• to successfully complete a course on professionalism in medical practice;
• to successfully complete a course on professionalism and ethics;
• to successfully complete a course on record-keeping/charting;
• to successfully complete a College-authored course on record-keeping; and
• to pay a portion of the costs of the investigation in the amount of $500.

The Registrant will not be entitled to receive continuing education credits for any of the required coursework.

Reasons: The College received a complaint in March 2016 from a female patient of the registrant (the “Complainant”).

The Registrant has admitted to the following facts in respect of the complaint:

• The Registrant provided massage therapy services to the Complainant on 10 occasions in February to June 2015.
• After about three to four massage therapy sessions, the Registrant began to disclose to the Complainant personal information about himself and his family.
• After the ninth massage therapy session, the Registrant discussed with the Complainant her dream which involved a fantasy of being in a relationship with him.
• The Registrant entered into a personal, romantic and sexual relationship with the Complainant while she was his patient.

The Registrant acknowledged that he had committed professional misconduct by (a) contravening section 75(a) of the College’s Bylaws and sections 1(1)(a), 1(2) and 2(a) of Schedule “C” to the Bylaws (the College’s Code of Ethical Conduct, prior to amendments made on April 16, 2016) by entering into a personal and romantic relationship with the Complainant, a patient, which included kissing and touching of a sexual nature, and (b) contravening section 75(b) of the College’s Bylaws and sections 9(b) and 10(a) of the Schedule “D” to the Bylaws (the College’s Standards of Practice) by engaging in inappropriate and unprofessional communications with the Complainant.

The Inquiry Committee considered that the Registrant expressed remorse for his conduct and was willing to participate in remedial work.