Complainant frustrated with wait for MD's hearing

A woman who filed a complaint last year against her psychiatrist wants to know why Newfoundland and Labrador's College of Physicians and Surgeons has not scheduled a hearing.

Kathleen Wiseman, 44,alleges she had a sexual relationship withDr. James Hanley while she was in his care.

Hanley surrendered his medical licence in Newfoundland and Labrador and closed his St. John's practice. He now works for the Canadian Armed Forces at CFB Gagetown in New Brunswick.

Wiseman, who lives on Bell Island in Conception Bay, does not know why 18 months have passed since she filed her complaint.

She also questions why Hanley is being allowed to treat patients in New Brunswick.

"Who's the College of Physicians and Surgeons been protecting me or Dr. Hanley?" Wiseman said in an interview.

"I say it's Dr. Hanley."

However, Dr. Robert Young, the registrar of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, denies theallegation that the regulatory body protects doctors.

"I think that is absolutely incorrect. The college's mandate is protection of the public," Young told CBC News.

Each respective province's regulatory body is responsible for regulating physicians in its jurisdiction.

Dr. Ed Schollenberg, the registrar of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New Brunswick, said his college was told only that Hanley faces "a complaint of a sexual nature" from a single patient.

"That's all they have told us," said Schollenberg, adding that that amount of detail is not enough for the New Brunswickcollege to justify pulling Hanley's licence.

Schollenberg said his college is waiting to see what happens in Newfoundland and Labrador.

If Hanley's licence is suspended in Newfoundland and Labrador, he said, New Brunswick would likely follow suit.

A hearing date based on Wiseman's complaint has not been set.