Doctor Brianne Hudson says she reported herself to the College of Physicians and Surgeons back in January 2020. The family physician was suspended indefinitely from practice on January 9th, following a Hearing Tribunal of the College of Physicians & Surgeons of Alberta for an inappropriate relationship with a patient.
Hudson released a statement on Thursday, saying she accepts the decision made by the CPSA tribunal, but she would like to share her perspective.
“To be clear, I acknowledge that I had a sexual relationship with a former patient,” Hudson says. “However, I would like the public to be aware of some pertinent details related to my case which are not evident in the CPSA media release.”
According to the press release and report put out by the CPSA, a complaint was filed against Hudson in February 2019 by the Director of the Peace River Correctional Centre Allen Gukert. The complaint stated the doctor was argumentative and confrontational with him as the patient was being transferred to a healthcare facility closer to the correctional centre.
The report goes on the explain a second complaint was also filed against Hudson for her relationship with the patient, referred to as Patient A, this time from their parents, saying they were confused about her role in the patient’s life and whether or not she was his physician because she was dealing with prescriptions.
In her statement Hudson does not directly acknowledge either accusation, but rather says she voluntarily reported the sexual relationship with the patient to the CPSA, rebutting the statement that she was accused.
“I would like to share that the person who accused me… was me. The CPSA became aware that I had a personal relationship with the patient from a complaint by a third party in the spring of 2019. However, no one reported to the CPSA that a sexual relationship occurred between August and November of 2019. The CPSA only became aware of the sexual relationship when I myself reported it to them in January 2020.”
Hudson was also accused of submitting false information on her CPSA Renewal Information Form in December 2019. She explains the question on the form in which she is accused of submitting false information with asked, “Was I involved in an inappropriate personal or sexual relationship that the CPSA was not already aware of?” Hudson answered no to this question explaining the CPSA was already aware of the inappropriate relationship.
“I had already scheduled a face-to-face meeting with the CPSA for January 2020 to self-report the sexual nature of the relationship,” Hudson says. “I reported the sexual relationship between myself and Patient A to a registrar at the CPSA on January 23, 2020, and I reported the sexual relationship between myself and Patient A to the Complaints Director of the CPSA on January 24, 2020.”
She adds it was important to her that she inform the CPSA the truth about her behaviour, even if it meant she lost her medical licence.
Hudson’s actions were determined to be consistent with sexual abuse by the definition of the Health Professions Act. The suspended physician says under the “Act to Protect Patients” when a physician is found guilty of sexual abuse, their license is permanently revoked. She also explains the law came into effect on April 1st, 2019.
“This law changed the definition of ‘patient’ to include any person a physician has treated in the past year.”
Hudson adds, the last time she had treated Patient A medically was in December 2018, eight months before the sexual relationship occurred from August to November 2019.
Final disciplinary action for Hudson will happen at a Sanction Hearing scheduled for February 14th.
