MD under fire for denying birth control
Barrie doctor refuses to prescribe contraceptive pills to single women
Mary Vallis, with files from Robert Benzie
National Post
An Ontario doctor may lose his medical licence for refusing to prescribe birth control pills to single women.
Dr. Stephen Dawson, a family physician at a walk-in medical clinic in Barrie, is facing a professional misconduct charge because four female patients lodged formal complaints with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario last summer.
"When a physician prescribes the birth control pill to an unmarried woman, what he unwittingly does is promote premarital sex," Dr. Dawson said in an interview.
"My Christian beliefs and convictions are very strong. I can't sell out to maintain my licence."
The College's disciplinary committee alleges Dr. Dawson compromised his patients' mental, moral and physical health by failing to ensure their needs were met after refusing their requests for contraception.
Dr. Dawson says he was advised to refer the patients to another physician who would write the prescriptions, but says doing that would have been hypocritical. The patients were free to use condoms or find other doctors independently, he added.
He also refuses to provide single men with Viagra prescriptions, offer unmarried women the morning-after pill or arrange abortions.
"He's entitled to his beliefs and he is certainly entitled to express his beliefs," said Laura Shanner, who researches reproductive ethics at the University of Alberta's John Dossetor Health Ethics Centre.
"What he is not entitled to do is to deny the standard of care to his patients. He absolutely must refer patients to a practitioner who is able to deal with sexuality and reproductive issues in a non-judgmental and helpful way.
"This individual has a responsibility to get out of the business where he's put in the position to have to make those choices. He is not able to deal with a very common question that faces family practitioners. Maybe he should become a pathologist and work with tissue samples and not have to get involved in people's sex lives."
Louise Hanvey, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of Canada, said patients already face too many obstacles to obtaining contraception in Canada.
"We see this as a human rights issue," she said. "Women and men are entitled to their reproductive rights."
Dr. Dawson's supporters, on the other hand, say all physicians should aspire to his example.
"He's actually being a good physician by taking care of both the spiritual as well as the medical and physical needs of his patients," said John Hof, president of the B.C. branch of Campaign Life Coalition. "If he can't put his opinion into it, then it takes away the motive for helping people."
Dr. Dawson instigated his policy on Feb. 8, 2000, after reading a Bible verse that convinced him providing birth control prescriptions was immoral. He informed his patients of his decision during their subsequent visits and distributed a letter outlining his position.
In it, he quotes Ezekiel 3:18-21: "When you do not warn or dissuade an unrighteous man from his evil ways, he will lose his soul for his iniquity, and his blood will be on your hands. Yet if you do warn him and he does not change from his evil ways, he will lose his soul, but you will at least save your own soul."
He said the college's allegations amount to religious persecution.
"We live, supposedly, in a free country," he said. "In this country, we are allowed to have fundamental freedoms of conscience, religion and expression of our views."
His is the only medical clinic in Barrie and the surrounding area that is accepting new patients. Dr. Dawson also sees patients in Toronto on weekends and owns clinics in nearby Orillia and Marmora, Ont. He graduated from the University of Toronto's medical school in 1982.
Officials at the Ontario Ministry of Health declined to comment on Dr. Dawson's case because it is before the College of Physicians and Surgeons.
The College may not have a strong case against Dr. Dawson because in other instances in the province, it has been left to the individual discretion of physicians as to whether they perform abortions or other procedures that may be against their religious beliefs.
Kathryn Clarke, a spokeswoman for the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, reviewed its discipline reports for the past decade and could not find any comparable allegations.
Three doctors and two members of the public sit on the discipline committee. In professional misconduct cases, they can reprimand the doctor, suspend his licence or revoke it altogether. The hearing is scheduled for April.
