Committee: Discipline
Decision Date: 01 May 2014
Summary:
On May 1, 2014, the Discipline Committee found that Dr. Ernest Eugene Hajcsar committed an act of professional misconduct, in that he engaged in conduct or an act or omission relevant to the practice of medicine that, having regard to all the circumstances, would reasonably be regarded by members as disgraceful, dishonourable or unprofessional. Dr. Hajcsar admitted to the allegation.
Dr. Hajcsar practises family medicine and offers cosmetic treatments in a clinic shared with his now ex-spouse. Dr. Hajcsar saw Patient A as a patient on numerous occasions including acting as her family physician when his ex-spouse, Patient A’s primary family physician, was on maternity leave. Between approximately 2004 and January 2012, Dr. Hajcsar treated Patient A for a variety of health issues, including providing supportive psychotherapy and beginning in August 2011, cosmetic treatments.
Dr. Hajcsar inappropriately violated appropriate boundaries with Patient A on a number of occasions:
• by commenting inappropriately on Patient A’s physical appearance
• sometimes brushing back the front of Patient A’s hair when speaking to her
• kissing Patient A briefly while assisting her in putting on her coat when she was leaving the clinic on two or three occasions
• touching Patient A’s shoulder as she was leaving, in what she perceived as an affectionate manner
• hugging Patient A from time to time or putting an arm around her shoulder, either in greeting or by way of reassurance, for example when she was going to receive an influenza vaccination
• Patient A felt this behavior was confusing and odd
In 2012, at the conclusion of a follow-up assessment of a cosmetic treatment, Dr. Hajcsar joked to Patient A, offering to “test” her “new lips.” He then kissed her on the lips. It was not a long kiss, but Patient A described it as a “big kiss.” Dr. Hajcsar then walked into the waiting area with Patient A and, in the presence of Patient A and the receptionist, joked that he “gave [Patient A]’s lips a test drive.” Patient A heard laughter in the waiting room and was uncomfortable. This conduct violated the appropriate boundary between a physician and a patient.
The Discipline Committee ordered and directed that:
• the Registrar suspend Dr. Hajcsar’s certificate of registration for a period of two (2) months commencing at 12:01 am on June 1, 2014
• Dr. Hajcsar appear before the panel to be reprimanded
• Dr. Hajcsar pay to the College costs in the amount of $4,460.00, within thirty (30) days of the date of this Order.