A female doctor has been stripped of her medical license for carrying
on an affair with a cancer patient and having sex with him in his
hospital bed.
Dr. Theepa Sundaralingam, 37, began flirting with the man just one
day after diagnosing him with cancer. She gave him her personal phone
number and Instagram handle. They then followed each other and she began
sending him flirty messages.
From sexting the man, the oncologist, from Toronto, Canada, took the
relationship to the next level by staying with him during treatment for
his illness and having sex in his hospital bed.
She, however, told him to keep the relationship secret as she was
concerned the college would become aware of their sexual and
inappropriate relationship.
But the patient, who will not be named, was devastated
when Sundaralingam ended the affair and explained to him that she was in
love with a colleague.
The man, who cannot be named, said:
It’s difficult for me to talk to anybody about it because the reality
is that I’m a male so for me to say, ‘Hey, I dated my oncologist,’ it
wouldn’t be a surprise for someone to say ‘Cool.’ But that’s not cool.‘That’s not the case because I feel abused, and it’s very difficult
as a male to come out and say that about a female. It’s usually the
other way around.I was physically emaciated and emotionally exposed and the loss of a
critical relationship defeated me. What compounded this toll was her
refusal to continue providing medical care at the same time.At the time, I was unable to see the ramifications of dating my
treating oncologist. I couldn’t see how vulnerable I was and how much
power she had over me.
Sundaralingam, who treated the man 23 times between January and July
2015 and once in March 2016, was stripped of her license on Wednesday,
January 30, after pleading no contest and being found guilty of sexually
abusing a patient.
Sundaralingam leaves a disciplinary hearing
Discipline panel chair John Langs said at a disciplinary hearing:
From virtually the beginning of your doctor/patient relationship, you
crossed boundaries and ultimately sexually abused an extremely
vulnerable patient suffering from a life-threatening illness.The committee can only hope that this process prompts you to undergo a
long, hard searching self-examination of what lies behind your abusive
and abhorrent behavior.You were responsible for your patient’s health, care and support, but
instead you took advantage for your own personal satisfaction.You then withdrew that support for your own personal preference at a
time when your patient was at his lowest point. You have disgraced
yourself and the profession.
Sundaralingam must now pay $16,000 to cover patient therapy costs,
and an additional $6,000 to cover the discipline hearing costs, The
Star reports.
