Dr.'s Licence Revoked

I recently read an interesting article examining a bioethics dilemma in the medical world. In Canada, an unnamed physician had his certification taken away when evidence of a psychiatric illness had come out. Upon being asked to provide documentation of his patients, he refused to cooperate to save his own reputation and even dignity. Because he was deemed incapable or unfit to continue to practice medicine, many people believed it was the patients' right to know if they had been treated by this particular physician (perhaps to ensure there was no malpractice or mistakes in treatment previous to his diagnosis). At the same time, there is the other side of the argument, that this man as well has rights, and he should be able to keep his personal life private from public embarrassment. He already had to pay over $20,000 to cover investigations, shouldn't he at least be entitled to keep his dignity? But; if you were the patient and had been treated by a so-called "incompetent" doctor, wouldn't you feel entitled to at least knowing what was going on? I think this is a very pertinent issue in today's society because it could really happen to any of us. I personally believe that in this case, the patients' rights should take precedent. If mistakes in practice had been made by this doctor prior to his discovered mental illness, there may be patients who need corrective treatment or it's possible that things could get even worse in the future. Tough call!