What you should know about your involvement in the
process if you complain about a physician to the
College:
Where your complaint concerns a misunderstanding or
misinterpretation of a physician’s actions, you may be
encouraged to communicate with the physician directly or play an
active role in our attempts to resolve your concern.
If you wish your concern to be addressed through our complaints
process, you will be asked to submit your complaint in writing
before it will be investigated.
The physician who is the subject of the complaint will be
provided with a copy of your written complaint.
It is unlikely that your relationship with the physician who is
the subject of your complaint will continue.
The College has authority to access your medical information to
investigate your complaint, but it is our general practice to ask
for your consent to release the information to the
College;
You may be asked to meet with a medical consultant, investigator
or the College’s legal counsel to review your complaint
and/or describe any further involvement on your part.
What the College can do to address
concerns:
In some cases, the College may be able to facilitate an
acknowledgement and/or an apology from a physician who recognizes
the validity of a concern raised in the complaint against
him/her.
Where a complaint highlights the need for a physician to change
his/her behavior or to improve some aspect of his/her practice, the
College may facilitate assessment and re-training if required.
In circumstances where the conduct on the part of a physician
represents a serious error, omission or transgression that the
physician is not prepared to acknowledge, the College may pursue
formal disciplinary action against that physician in order to
adequately protect the public. In circumstances where a
physician is unwilling to consider a behavioral change, assessment
or re-training or where a physician is a repeat offender and/or has
failed to act on the College’s direction regarding
re-training or behavioral change, disciplinary action may be the
only recourse.
The College has the authority to restrict or take away a
physician’s right to practice where it has determined
that a physician is not fit to practice medicine for reasons such
as he/she is too ill to practice safely, is not competent or has
committed a serious act of professional misconduct and his/her
continued practice puts the public at risk.
What the College can’t do to address
concerns:
The College does not handle general complaints regarding medical
matters or concerns about other health care
professionals. We can only take action where concerns
relate to individual physicians who are practicing in
Manitoba. Concerns or complaints about other healthcare
professionals should be directed to the appropriate professional
regulatory body;
The College does not have the authority to:
obtain financial compensation for complainants;
compel a physician to provide the treatment a complainant
wants;
arrange for alternative medical care or a referral to a
specialist;
