EDITOR:
I read with dismay (Guardian Dec. 23, 2018), the public humiliation of Dr. David Ashby, one of P.E.I.’s finest surgeons since 1976.
Did the board of inquiry have the support of medical and psychiatric help in estimating Dr. Ashby’s culpability? I know that given David’s temperament, with the forces allied against him, that his response would be to soak all blame up himself.
Consider the power balance between an aging senior (male/female) and a younger and more vital friend (male/female); that balance and the factors that determine it, would require very involved psychiatric scrutiny and not simple assumption.
Prescribing mood-altering drugs for distressed patients is familiar to all surgeons. Dr. Ashby has prescribed such treatment for all his practicing life.
Finally, I wonder about the humanity in the complaints to the college by doctors. Surely, a directed approach to David, describing the danger he had fallen into for him and his family; the threat of college involvement would have been sufficient.
Public evisceration was a bit much; it is wonderful to be so accountable.
I wonder if homophobia played a role here?
Ken (K.C.) Grant,
Retired surgeon
QEH, Charlottetown
