Girls in custody say doctor assaulted them
By John Bermingham, The Province. Published: Monday, July 09, 2007
Burnaby Mounties are investigating allegations of sexual assault involving a girl inmate at the Burnaby Youth Custody Centre. RCMP Cpl. Jane Baptista said a third-party complaint has been made on behalf of the teen, who police have interviewed.
Vancouver-based Justice For Girls filed the complaint after three girls told them they were improperly touched on their breasts by a male doctor during psychiatric tests.
Asia Czapska of Justice for Girls said she was talking with the girls last month when a 17-year-old girl said a male doctor improperly touched her breasts. Then two more girls, both 15 or 16, described similar acts by the same doctor.
"They started to talk about how weird these breast exams were," said Czapska. "One of the girls described specifically how he basically groped her breasts."
The girls felt they couldn't refuse the breast exams, but they did refuse when the doctor offered to also perform Pap tests on them to check for cervical cancer.
Justice For Girls informed prison officials of the allegations.
The Ministry of Children and Family Development is also investigating.
NDP children's critic Maurine Karagianis wants to know why girls are undergoing breast exams and being offered Pap tests during psychiatric assessments.
"I don't understand what the policy could possibly be that would require girls to undergo those kinds of examinations when receiving a psychiatric examination," said Karagianis.
The doctor initially withdrew his services at the Inpatient Assessment Unit, but is now back working.
"During the period of time the investigation is ongoing, he has voluntarily chosen not to do examinations on young women till the thing is resolved," said Barry Lynden, executive director of youth custody services.
"It's nothing that we're overly concerned about. If we were, we would have taken much more severe and drastic steps," he said.
Lynden said a breast examination is part of a routine medical exam, which is in turn part of the psychiatric assessment. A female nurse is supposed to be present during those tests.
"We're dealing with extremely vulnerable children here, and many of these children have never had physical examinations," he said.
"We want to ensure the safety of the kids."
Lynden said Justice For Girls filed the complaint, not the girl, who is still in custody.
"The child is not complaining," he said. "The child has no issue whatsoever, at this point."
Lynden said he hasn't received complaints from any others.
jbermingham@png.canwest.com
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