Dr Adekunle Owolabi, a Nigerian doctor practicing in Labrador West, Canada, who asked a woman during a Pap test if she “liked big ones or small ones” has lost his medical licence for six months and must be chaperoned when seeing female patients for two years once he goes back to work.
The doctor in court
A three-person tribunal established by the provincial College of Physicians and Surgeons found Dr. Owolabi guilty Monday of four counts of professional misconduct after a six-day hearing earlier this year.
Four female patients had accused the Nigeria-trained doctor of making sexual comments, and of inappropriate hugging and kissing.
To resume his general practice, Adekunle must take a course on appropriate doctor-patient boundaries. He was also ordered to pay $75,000 in costs related to the investigation and disciplinary process.
In each of the four separate complaints, Owolabi was found to have shown a lack of respect for the dignity and privacy of his patients, constituting professional misconduct.
He has 30 days to appeal the penalties to the trial division of the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Dr. Elizabeth Mate, who led the tribunal said comments Owolabi made to one complainant during a 2014 Pap test, asking if she “liked big ones or small ones,” were “cavalier” and “unprofessional.”
