Summerside gynecologist will have licence suspended for 3 months

The licence of a Summerside, P.E.I.,gynecologist who admitted to professional misconduct will be suspended for three months.

Dr. Henry Swart's suspension is related to a procedure he performed without a patient's consent in 2017.

Swart will also have to pay a $5,000 fine to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of P.E.I. as well as cover the $15,000 cost associated with the college's investigation and disciplinary proceedings.

Swartadmitted to performing a cystotomy an incision into the bladder while a patient was under anesthesia for another procedure. He performed the cystotomy even though the patient had told him that she did not want any other surgery without her consent, and did not want him to touch her bladder.

Swart made the admission in an agreed statement of facts which was presented at a board of inquiry of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of P.E.I. in Charlottetown on March 26.

He said he performed the additional surgery with good intentionsin an effort to repair complicationsand avoid the need for additional surgery.

But the procedurewas not successful.The patienthad to have corrective surgery in Halifax months later, andused about700 hours of sick leave from her job.

At the inquiry, the lawyer forthe college, Gordon MacKay, and Swart's lawyer Thomas Laughlin submitted a joint recommendation that outlined the exact disciplinary action Swart received Monday.

The college also ordered Swart tocompletea course at Dalhousie University in Halifaxrelated to informed consent and patient autonomy, for which he will have to pay.

Swart is also required to write a reflective paper regarding the various aspects of informed consent and patient autonomy.

This is not the first time Swart has faced disciplinary measures. In 2009 and 2011, the college found Swart failed to demonstrate skills or judgment when treating a condition called cervical dysplasia. Swart no longer deals with patients with that condition.

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