Charlottetown doctor guilty of professional misconduct

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of P.E.I. has found Dr. Grant Matheson guilty of six offences related to an addiction to prescription narcotics.

This is not Matheson's first trouble with the college. His licence was suspended for 19 months starting in February 2005, when he admitted to an addiction to narcotics and getting narcotics from a patient. He went through treatment, and his medical licence was reinstated, but he was banned from prescribing narcotics and ordered to submit to monitoring.

He has done that with no new complaints against him. The latest findings of guilt relate to a complaint by patient Kevin Kelly and date back to a three-year period before Matheson began addictions treatment in 2005. Kelly was supplied with a large quantity of narcotics prescriptions by Matheson and forced to sell the drugs back to the doctor. In a report obtained by the CBC Monday, the college's fitness to practise committee says it found Matheson guilty of:

• Practising medicine while impaired.
• Diverting narcotics for his own personal use.
• Diverting narcotics to another person.
• Failing to practise to the standard of care due to Kevin Kelly.
• Violating professional patient-physician boundaries.
• Providing non-narcotic prescriptions to another person.

"This was an abuse of the position of power that a family physician holds, an abuse of the trust between patient and physician; an abuse of Mr. Kelly's vulnerability, and additionally, it placed Mr. Kelly in a position of jeopardy with respect to the law," the committee wrote in its decision.

Matheson told the college he started on pain pills after his brother died, and progressed to injecting opiates. He admitted supplying himself by getting narcotics from three patients.   This is the third time he has faced discipline by the college. Because of that, and the number of guilty findings, he faces more severe penalties.

The committee is recommending:

• 3½ year suspension.
• $15,000 fine.
• Lifetime ban on prescribing narcotics.
• Retraining and monitoring.

At this point the findings of the committee are only recommendations. The College of Physicians and Surgeons will meet in January to decide whether to impose the recommended penalties. Matheson's lawyer told CBC he won't comment until then.

Matheson also faces separate sanctions from the courts. He'll be sentenced Wednesday on a criminal charge of obtaining prescription narcotics by false pretenses, dating back to the same time period.