Previous Hearings
Committee: Discipline
Decision Date: 18 Sep 2009
Summary:
On September 18, 2009, the Discipline Committee found that Dr. Sequeira committed an act of professional misconduct, in that he has 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.
Patient A had been Dr. Sequeira's patient since she was 16 years old. At the time of Patient A's final medical appointment with Dr. Sequeira, she was 21, and he was 39 years of age. At the conclusion of that medical appointment, Dr. Sequeira and Patient A discussed meeting socially. Prior to their first date, Dr. Sequeira informed Patient A that she could no longer be his patient. Within four days of his last medical appointment with her, they had dinner together and communicated with each other romantically. By the following month, they engaged in kissing and other physical contact, and by the fourth month following the final medical appointment, they had engaged in sexual intercourse.
The Discipline Committee ordered and directed that:
1. The Registrar suspend Dr. Sequeira's certificate of registration for a period of six (6) months, to commence within eight (8) weeks of the date of the Order.
2. Dr. Sequeira successfully complete, at his own expense, the College's Medical Ethics and Informed Consent Course and the College's Boundaries Course, on the next available date, and to provide proof thereof to the College.
3. Dr. Sequeira appear before the panel to be reprimanded.
4. Dr. Sequeira pay to the College costs in the amount of $3,650, within 30 days of the date of the Order.
5. The results of this proceeding be included in the register.
Decision: Download Full Decision (PDF)
Appeal: No Appeal
Hearing Date(s): September 18, 2009