‘Incompetent’ nurse serving gay community stripped of licence, ordered to pay $24,268

A nurse practitioner serving Vancouver’s gay male community has been ordered to pay $24,268 and stripped of his licence after being found guilty of professional misconduct and incompetent practice, the BC College of Nurses and Midwives says.

A disciplinary panel said July 13 Paul Perry’s case was one of “ungovernability, incompetence and practicing outside their scope of practice” and that licence revocation was appropriate.

The payment is to cover the college’s costs in the discipline proceedings.

“His professional misconduct, incompetent practice, failure to comply with standards were remarkable in its scope and seriousness,” the discipline panel said.

The college said in an earlier decision Perry was serving a vulnerable and high-risk community in his dealings with men who have sex with men. He had worked at Three Bridges Community Health Centre and at the HIM Clinic (Health Initiative for Men), both in downtown Vancouver.

The penalty decision said he put “vulnerable patients at risk for harm, both physically and psychologically.”

The college found Perry committed professional misconduct for soliciting detailed and personal sexual histories from clients when not needed, that he recorded sexual histories in patient records using non-clinical descriptions and solicited ‘coming out’ histories as well as information about past sexual, physical or psychological trauma.

In one case, the decision said, Perry may have traumatized a client.

The college found in a February decision released March 4 that Perry had not referred clients to appropriate supportive services in those cases.

The panel found Perry committed professional misconduct when he breached a consent agreement and undertakings with the college when he accepted work with the University of Northern B.C.

It further found Perry’s record keeping lacking, unclear and containing mistakes. 

Also, Perry was found incompetent in providing psychological counselling to patients when not qualified to do so. And,it found he had not adhered to best practices in ordering diagnostic interventions or prescribing medications.

As well, the college found Perry breached standards when he provided cognitive behavioural therapy to clients when he was not qualified to do so, and diagnosed a client with hyperthyroidism on the basis of a single test and failed to refer that client to an endocrinologist or provide appropriate follow-up.

Perry cannot reapply for a licence to practice for five years and must meet fitness, competence and character requirements to resume practice.

[email protected]

twitter.com/jhainswo