{"id":5572,"date":"2015-02-03T20:43:49","date_gmt":"2015-02-04T04:43:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=5572"},"modified":"2018-12-02T16:44:12","modified_gmt":"2018-12-03T00:44:12","slug":"a-watchdog-in-need-of-a-leash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=5572","title":{"rendered":"A watchdog in need of a leash"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ontario College of Physicians manipulates consultation process<\/h2>\n

New Release<\/strong><\/p>\n

For immediate release<\/p>\n

Protection of Conscience Project<\/p>\n

It appears that the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario is manipulating its consultation process to support a controversial draft policy intended to force doctors to do what they believe to be wrong.<\/p>\n

The College is intervening in a Discussion Forum about Professional Obligations and Human Rights<\/i> (POHR), apparently to discredit critics and defend the policy. The Forum is supposed to be used by the public to provide feedback on the policy, and to post emails and written submissions the College receives from the public.<\/p>\n

But on 29 January the College posted a comment accusing Professor Margaret Somerville of misrepresenting its policy in a National Post<\/em> column<\/a>. The comment included a link to a letter to the National Post <\/i>from College President, Dr. Carol Leet.<\/p>\n

Not content with interfering in the consultation by posting its own statement, the College impersonated anonymous forum participants and used its statement to reply to comments supporting Professor Somerville\u2019s “modest proposal.”<\/p>\n

Someone at the College seems to have had second thoughts about impersonating participants, because the replies were revised a couple of days later to identify the College as the author. But the purported correction of participant responses still violates College policy.<\/p>\n

Sean Murphy, Administrator of the Protection of Conscience Project, thinks College officials are interfering in the consultation because they are afraid that more people will begin to realize what the draft policy really means.<\/p>\n

“In her National Post <\/i>column, Professor Somerville succinctly critiqued the draft policy, and offered a reasonable alternative,” he said. “If Dr. Leet disagreed, she was within her rights to write a letter to the editor.”<\/p>\n

“But,” he added, “interfering in the consultation process is unacceptable.”<\/p>\n

Murphy observed that the College is supposed to be the watchdog protecting the public and profession from unethical conduct.<\/p>\n

“It seems this watchdog needs a leash.”<\/p>\n

For details, see A watchdog in need of a leash: Ontario College of Physicians manipulates consultation process<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ontario College of Physicians manipulates consultation process New Release For immediate release Protection of Conscience Project It appears that the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario is manipulating its consultation process to support a controversial draft policy intended to force doctors to do what they believe to be wrong. The College is intervening in … Continue reading “A watchdog in need of a leash”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5432,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,4,10,3403,287],"tags":[1486,385,384,566,1529],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-5572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-canada","category-commentary","category-news-releases","category-project-news-releases","category-protection-of-conscience-project","tag-carol-leet","tag-college-of-physicians-and-surgeons-of-ontario","tag-ontario","tag-physicians","tag-professional-obligations-and-human-rights"],"yoast_head":"\r\nA watchdog in need of a leash - Protection of Conscience Project News<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=5572\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A watchdog in need of a leash - Protection of Conscience Project News\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ontario College of Physicians manipulates consultation process New Release For immediate release Protection of Conscience Project It appears that the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario is manipulating its consultation process to support a controversial draft policy intended to force doctors to do what they believe to be wrong. 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