A Laval doctor showed "gross negligence" by ignoring 1,200 of her patients' test results for years

A Laval doctor demonstrated "gross negligence" by allowing up to 1,200 test results to accumulate from patients who had not been consulted, some of whom had not been consulted for five years.

"Consulting test results is the first step in monitoring a patient. Until the doctor has seen the results of a test, he or she does not know whether the patient is truly abnormal or requires urgent intervention," the disciplinary council of the College of Physicians denounced in its decision issued this month.

He found family physician Fanny Sutto, of the GMF Sainte-Rose in Laval, guilty of an act derogatory to the honor of her profession, for having failed to ensure the follow-up of her patients. The doctor, who has been practicing since 1998, behaved in an "unacceptable" manner, the council ruled.

Scan and blood tests

In the summer of 2023, the GMF discovered that ^Dr. Sutto was piling up approximately 1,200 unconsulted or unapproved test results, the oldest of which dated back to 2018, in the clinic's electronic medical record.

Among the results ^Dr. Sutto ignored were an "abdominal scan" performed at least three years earlier and blood tests that were marked abnormal.

According to the ruling, blood test results should be reviewed within a week of receipt. However, ^Dr. Sutto was sometimes a year late.

Help was offered to the doctor, who refused. As the situation did not improve, her shifts at the hospital were even canceled so she could catch up.

Carelessness

Her backlog of tests was finally reduced by half. But the situation remained worrying for her colleagues and the College of Physicians' trustee, since after a year, more than 500 results still remained unanswered.

^Dr. Fanny Sutto "showed carelessness or even gross negligence with regard to her patients' test results," the trustee argued.

The doctor reportedly said she was overworked and experiencing personal problems, according to the GMF manager. However, she never responded to the trustee's requests, provided no explanation, and did not appear at her disciplinary hearing.

Missed cancer?

For the trustee, ^Dr. Sutto's actions are not reassuring and there could be a "missed cancer among the thousand files" pending.

The judgment states that the Council of Physicians, Dentists and Pharmacists (CMDP) of Laval conducted a "partial" follow-up of the unconsulted results and found no harm to patients. But the trustee emphasizes that "this is a small sample and we cannot be certain about the other test results."

The doctor will receive her punishment within three months. She was also found guilty of obstructing the work of the trustee.