Unable to recognize his mistakes, psychiatrist Louis Morissette was fined $10,000 14 years ago for carrying out a bogus “expertise” to the point where he was considered at risk of re-offending.
• Read more: A psychiatrist is strictly charged by his professional discipline
“He finds no fault […] So he didn’t see what he could change in his practice. Nor does the disciplinary process seem to have had a deterrent effect on him,” lamented the Disciplinary Council of the College of Physicians in a recent decision.
DR Morissette, best known for her testimony in major trials involving Carla Homolka and Guy Turcotte, was indicted last February. Because, in 2008, he undertook an “expertise” based on wind.
At that time, Louis Morissette accepted a commission from André Lalonde, then dean of the University of Ottawa, to give a psychiatric opinion on physics professor Denis Rancourt. Without trying to reach the latter, the psychiatrist made an alarming statement based on dubious information.
No radiation
“This is a crime at the heart of the medical profession,” he lamented in conclusion.
In fact, the report was so bogus that the Disciplinary Board refused to even call it “opinion, evaluation or expertise.”
Professor Runcourt, who was finally dismissed, took action against the psychiatrist. After 14 years, the permit finally collapsed. If the plaintiff had anticipated at least two years of layoff, dR Morissette escaped with a fine.
The latter believed that, at worst, reprimand would have been enough.
DR Morissette must also pay certain costs related to the file.
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