‘People are scared’: Labrador doctor back to work amid ongoing investigations

Dr. Adolf Hamann, an obstetrician and gynecologist (OBGYN) under investigation following complaints from at least 20 patients, has returned to work at the Labrador Health Centre in Happy Valley-Goose Bay.

Last week messages circulated on social media alleging the controversial doctor was seen in the Labrador hospital despite no apparent resolution to an investigation by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Newfoundland and Labrador, which The Independent has confirmed is actively investigating complaints against Hamann from 19 women.

On Monday Hamann’s lawyer, Robin Cook, confirmed his client returned to work on Aug. 26 following an investigation by NL Health Services, the province’s health authority, that was “favourable to Dr. Hamann,” and that there “are no restrictions on his medical license or hospital privileges.” Cook did not provide any further details of the investigation.

Hamann’s return has caught many off guard, including some of the women whose complaints are still being investigated. 

“ I’m very, very confused and shocked that he’s allowed back to work without the public knowing what’s going on,” Isla Strachan, a former patient of Hamann’s, told The Independent on Monday.

Earlier this year Strachan and other women came forward with allegations of malpractice after the daughter of one of Hamann’s patients went public with details of her mother’s pain, suffering and near-death experience following an alleged botched surgery by the doctor. 

Last October Sheila Blake saw Hamann to have an ovarian cyst removed, Blake’s daughter Jodie Ashini told The Independent in December. After the operation, Blake’s pain was so intense she was left “screaming and crying in pain,” Ashini said. “We didn’t know at that time that her bowel was perforated; we thought that it was her back that was sore.”

• Labrador doctor under scrutiny after patients go public with allegations

Blake and Ashini filed a complaint with Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services last November but Ashini says they did not hear from the health authority before news began circulating that Hamann had returned to work. “My mom was not contacted or given the heads up, when she still has to go and get wound care done at the same hospital he is now back to work at,” Ashini said in a phone interview Monday. “She wasn’t even given the heads up, which is real dirty if you ask me.”

In an emailed statement on Sept. 5, NL Health Services told The Independent it has a “responsibility to investigate complaints of clinical and professional misconduct against physicians,” and that when an allegation is made, it “follows formal processes under its Medical Staff Bylaws.”

The health authority said it can’t comment on specific doctors because “all physicians and employees […] are entitled to privacy under NL Health Services’ Privacy and Confidentiality policy.” It said it “works closely with the College of Physicians and Surgeons to maintain patient safety.”

Ashini said her mother, who spent several months in a St. John’s hospital following the surgery last fall, will soon have to return to the island for a further three months of medical care. “She’s still suffering every single day,” Ashini said, explaining the back and forth travel for family members and time off work have burdened Blake and her family with financial costs.

College of Physicians reviewing complaints from 19 women

Strachan says she was contacted by dozens of women interested in coming forward about their experiences with Hamann. With their consent, she passed the names and contact information to the province’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, which is legislated to regulate the practice of medicine in Newfoundland and Labrador and investigate complaints against doctors. It also has the authority to place restrictions on, or revoke, a doctor’s license to practice in the province.

Earlier this week the college told one complainant in an email reviewed by The Independent that 19 women were interviewed, and that some cases are being investigated while others are still at the “intake stage” as the college awaits copies of patients’ medical records.

In an email to The Independent the college said it would be “wholly inappropriate for the regulating body to identify any physician as being investigated and for what reason without following the steps in the complaint process” as laid out in provincial legislation. Information can be made public, it said, “essentially only after an allegation is screened by the College’s Complaints Authorization Committee.” The college said it “aims to ensure a procedurally fair, impartial, and just process, in accordance with its regulatory mandate.”

When the college takes disciplinary action against doctors, or if a public hearing is scheduled, it informs the public on the Discipline Hearings and Settlement Agreements page of its website.

Labrador women ‘scared’

When Karyn Couperthwaite, a licensed practical nurse in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, was having lunch at the Labrador Health Centre cafeteria last week, she deliberately sat with her back to the passing traffic.

At one point she glanced sideways and noticed Hamann walking past her. “I don’t think he noticed me, but I definitely noticed him and it just kind of set off an emotional breakdown for myself, I guess,” she recalled in a phone interview Tuesday. “Luckily I had some friends and co-workers there with me, so they were pretty quick to say, ‘Hey, let’s get outta this situation.’”

Couperthwaite went public with her allegations against Hamann in an interview with The Independent earlier this year. The Inuk woman, who also works as a youth outreach worker in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, described aggressive behaviour by Hamann when he delivered her baby several years ago. She also alleged Hamann removed her fallopian tubes without her consent, something she only learned years later when she saw another doctor for a reverse tubal ligation after deciding she wanted to expand her family.

Since The Independent reported Couperthwaite’s story last January, she said she’s “had a lot of people looking out for me,” and was recently warned by a few folks that they had seen Hamann at the hospital. 

“If it wasn’t for my friends that had reached out and told me that he was back, I would’ve been completely blindsided when I seen him there the other day,” she said. “So I’m thankful that I kind of had that heads up, but I think that Sheila [Blake] and any other women that had put complaints forward definitely deserve the two minutes it takes to write an email or make a phone call to say, ‘Just letting you know, we’ve concluded our investigation and he will be returning.’ It just gives you a little bit of time to process and prepare or make other arrangements.”

Ashini and Strachan say they fear for the safety of women in Labrador, given Hamann’s return to practice without any public updates on the complaints against him, and after several women posted on social media that they have refused—or will refuse—to see him.

“I’ve heard that [women have] walked out of the hospital. They’ve left appointments when they found out that it was [Hamann]—they don’t feel safe,” said Strachan. “They don’t feel like their autonomy is going to be respected as a woman.”

“ People are refusing important healthcare because of this man,” said Ashini. “It’s only gonna stem from people getting sick, or cancer, that’s not going to be treated because they don’t want to see him. So I don’t understand why [NL Health Services] is even allowing him back when these people are outright refusing his care.”

The Independent requested an interview with Hamann through his lawyer, Robin Cook, who said in an email he “will not be recommending that he be interviewed by you.”

‘I am trying not to be mad’: MHA

Hamann was previously banned from practicing medicine at a Corner Brook hospital after he pleaded guilty to uttering threats. In 2010, he left a message on a colleague’s voicemail calling him a “traitor” for his views on a labour dispute. “You are a [expletive] Indian and if you don’t take back what you said you and your family will die,” Hamann said in the message, according to reporting from CBC at the time.

He was later given a conditional discharge and 18 months’ probation; soon after, he began practicing in Labrador. According to the College of Physicians and Surgeons NL’s website, no disciplinary action or restrictions on practice were placed on Hamann at the time.

Torngat Mountains MHA Lela Evans told The Independent Monday she is planning to meet with several women who have filed complaints against Hamann and will be looking into the matter. “We need answers, like where he’s been cleared, you know,” she said. “The lack of information and lack of transparency is really muddling the facts.”

Evans said she’s worried about women who may refuse to see Hamann and have no other alternative for care. “ I am really concerned that what’s not going to be measured is the people who don’t go to their appointments, or don’t have follow-up care because they they have fear or distrust of this doctor.”

She said the lack of communication from authorities around Hamann’s return and the investigations into his alleged misconduct “erodes confidence” in the healthcare system. “Patients are worried now and family members of patients are worried: ‘Well, is that going to happen to my loved one? Is that gonna happen to me?’ And the consequences are very severe for this type of thing.”

Evans said the whole situation is “creating a lot of stress and anxiety, and to me it’s unacceptable. You shouldn’t have to worry about your health being at risk under the care of a doctor; you got enough to worry about a medical condition causing you harm or impairment, right?”

The matter is compounded by cultural differences, she continued, where many patients who travel to Goose Bay for medical care are Inuit or Innu. “ If you look at the field he’s in, a lot of times it’s really hard for people to even go and get treatment, or to get diagnosed, just because of the sensitive nature of the conditions,” she said. “Especially in Northern Labrador, people are very sensitive about that thing, so they got to have an established trust that the doctor is going to help them, is going to look after them, is going to be respectful, is going to be be caring. And they shouldn’t be going to a doctor in a place of having this extra vulnerability placed on them. Like, honest to God, I am trying not to be mad.”

The Independent twice requested comment from provincial Health Minister Krista Lynn Howell and asked if she supports the return to work of any doctor who is under investigation by NL Health Services or the College of Physicians for potential malpractice. We did not receive a response.

Couperthwaite said she’s afraid she may have to pay out of her own pocket to travel to the island to see another OBGYN, which would be cost prohibitive. “I’m just praying that, you know, nothing happens in the foreseeable future that I would need to go see one.”