Regulatory Failure: The Six-Month Gap That Left a Suspected Predator Licensed
AI-generated image · Bay Street Wire
While the Hospital for Sick Children acted swiftly to remove Dr. Dilan Dissanayake, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario waited half a year to suspend his license despite evidence of child sexual abuse material.
The mandate of a medical regulator is the protection of the public. In the case of Dr. Dilan Dissanayake, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) failed that mandate, as first reported by CBC News, by allowing a physician suspected of possessing child sexual abuse and exploitation material (CSAEM) to remain licensed for six months after a police investigation began.
According to CBC News, the investigation into Dissanayake, a 45-year-old staff rheumatologist at the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, began on January 20. The probe was triggered by a Dropbox tip forwarded via the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) alleging that a file containing suspected CSAEM was uploaded to Dissanayake's personal account on January 19. Toronto police court filings indicate the upload occurred using an IP address geolocated to SickKids.
Information to obtain search warrants (ITOs) revealed a five-minute video—which allegedly included the acronym "pthc," meaning "pre-teen hardcore"—depicting a female child between 12 and 15 years old being sexually assaulted by an adult man. Further police filings indicate that after searching Dissanayake's office and home in late January, investigators found seven additional "thumbcache" images of CSAEM on a seized desktop computer.
There is a stark contrast between the institutional response of the hospital and the regulatory response of the CPSO. As reported by CBC News, SickKids placed Dissanayake on leave on January 28, the same day police searched his office. However, the CPSO did not suspend Dissanayake's medical license until July, the month he was officially charged with possessing and accessing CSAEM.
Dr. Shannon Ruzycki, a professor at the University of Calgary's medical school, told CBC News that without a license restriction from the CPSO, Dissanayake could have continued practicing medicine in contexts outside of the hospital. Ruzycki argues that because of the trust placed in physicians, regulators should err on the side of suspension when serious allegations involving children arise, even before formal charges are laid.
Neither the CPSO nor Dissanayake responded to CBC News' inquiries regarding whether Dissanayake practiced medicine in any other capacity during the six months between the start of the investigation and his license suspension.