PHOTO-CAPTION: "Former forensic psychiatrist Aubrey Levin is accused of sexually assaulting 10 patients. Most of the patients were referred to him as a result of a court order."

GIST: " Psychiatrists have strict boundaries to which they must follow when dealing with patients under their care and they must strictly adhere to the boundaries, an expert in the field testified at Dr. Aubrey Levin’s sexual assault trial on Friday. Dr. Peter Collins, associate professor at University of Toronto who also works privately in forensic psychiatry and clinical criminology, said there is rarely any occasion in which a doctor needs to have physical contact beyond a handshake or to test for blood pressure. Touching a patient’s genitals to check for a sexually transmitted disease or sexual dysfunction, he said, is not part of a psychiatrist’s mandate and clearly unacceptable as it crosses boundaries. “As a psychiatrist, I’m not going to physically examine a patient in a therapeutic relationship,” Collins told Crown prosecutor Bill Wister. “Exceptions are that I’ll take blood pressure, and explain why I’m doing it.”......... Levin was charged in March 2010 after a patient, who complained to his lawyer he was being sexually abused, used a Spy Watch video camera to record his last two sessions with Levin. The videos, played in court, show Levin fondling the complainant’s penis for nearly 15 minutes. Under cross-examination, Collins agreed with defence lawyer Karen Molle that patients with borderline personality disorder are the most likely to be sexually abused, but also to make false sexual allegations. Court has heard some of Levin’s patients were diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, although Collins did not specifically refer to anything about the Levin case."

The entire story can be found at:

 http://www.calgaryherald.com/health/Experts+Levin+trial+explain+psychiatrist+boundaries/7668520/story.html

 PUBLISHER'S NOTE

I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located  near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.

The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:

http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith

Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:

http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html

Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.