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A4 -The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday April 24, 2002 Doctor submitted altered documents to disciplinary committee (Continued from page 1) ters related to his care of the Mississauga teen. Laws was subsequently given a three-month suspension by the College's disciplinary committee. Since serving his three-month sus pension in 1 999, Laws has continued his Oakville practice. Laws began treating Bain in 1992 for Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). Bain died in August 1993 after two failed liver transplants. Ever since their son's death, Tom and Patricia Bain fought to prove that Laws altered Jonathan's records and had writ ten letters to hide the fact that a drug he prescribed for their son was the cause of the teen's death. Copies of the alleged letters were nowhere to be found in Jonathan's file. Laws first prescribed the drug Cylert, which has been linked to liver problems, to treat Jonathan's ADD in 1992. The family contends that tests revealed the drug caused their son's death and that blood work, which would have redflagged Cylert's adverse effects on his liver, was never carried out. When the family took their complaint to the College. Laws attempted to cover his tracks by altering documents - name ly letters to the Bains' family physician to say that he had ordered blood work on Jonathan and that he had discussed pos sible side effects of the drug with his family, say College reports. On the eve of the College hearing, though. Laws admitted he did not dis cuss the risks of liver failure with Jonathan Bain or his parents. The perjury charge stems from an October 1995 civil suit discovery hear ing during which Laws falsely stated that he had ordered blood tests. Laws' attorney Robert Kelly - who made it clear his client has never been charged with causing Jonathan's death and that the criminal charges do not deal with the quality of the teen's care - said Laws " accepts responsibility" for the forgery and perjury as shown by his guilty pleas. Kelly also said that during the College hearing his client said he was "ashamed and embarrassed" by his actions and apologized to the Bains as well as his friends, family and col leagues. Kelly said Laws must also live with the " anxiety and stigma" resulting from the College's discipline. "This is a case of clear, lasting and genuine remorse," said Kelly, who char acterized his client as a " skilled and extremely caring physician." "Dr. Laws will not re-offend, the court can be assured of that." Crown Attorney Laurie Jago said she takes the position that there is " no expla nation for Dr. Laws' action" and that "he should be ashamed." Jago said Laws' behaviour was not the result of a momentary panic, but that he continued to lie for more than four years, thereby inflicting "untold pain and agony" on the Bains. "This court will never be able to ^xW W U/////*, a tG U S T iO M E R i TM B W W fT Y O U C O U LD W IN DAYS! ONE OF THREE $ 5 0 0 0 SHOPPING SPREES! ONE OF FIVE LAPTOP COMPUTERS WORTH $ 2 0 0 0 EACH ONE OF FIFTEEN HIGH-TECH COMBOS WORTH $ 5 0 0 EACH (DIGITAL CAMERA & COLOUR PRINTER) understand what (the Bains) have been through," said Jago. Kelly and Jago made a joint submis sion to Justice LeDressay asking for the 45-day sentence. Kelly asked that Laws begin serving time at 8 p.m. on Fridays since he has a heavy caseload, including young patients he needs to see after school. In a quiet voice. Laws apologized to the Bains without facing them, as well as to his family friends and colleagues. Before passing sentence. Justice LeDressay said one aggravating factor he took into account was that it took four years for Laws to admit his " deceit." On the other hand, the judge said that it appears since 1998 Laws has accepted responsibility and followed through by taking a medical ethics course and receiving psychiatric treatment. Except for this one episode. Justice LeDressay continued. Laws' conduct with his practice and in the community has been "honourable." BUY 2 & SAVE I2 V Z I BUY 2 FOR 6 8 .9 8 SAVE $ 1 0 51645A BLACK INK CARTRIDGE · For use in HP Deskjet 1600C, 750C, 820Cix, 850C,855C, 870C Parents feared they were at fault (C ontinued from page 1) i n v e n t 511N COMPUTER · Intel Celeron 1.3 GHz processor · 128 MB SD RAM · 40 GB hord drive · CDRW drive · 56K V.90 fax modem & NIC · MS Windows XPTM, MS Works 6.0, Money 2002 and more! 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OAKVILLE Q E W a tD o r v a lD r iv e ·2 1 0N o r t hS e r v ic eR o a dW . ·2 4 6 0W in s t o nC h u r c h ill (a tD u n d a s )B R A M P TO N1 2 5 0S t e e le sE a s t (E a s to f4 1 0 )(b ) ·8 0G r e a tL a k e sD riv e (b ) ·2 9 3 7H ig h w a y7E a s t M IS S IS S A U G A1 5 3 0A im c oB lv d .(b ) ·5 9 0 0M a v isR d .(b ) HOURS M on-Fri 8AM -9PM Strt 9AM-6PM Sun 11AM -SPM STAPLES B u s in e s s W m e s s d e p o t .c o m DEP®t " During those 13 months I frequent ly lay awake in the night clutching a teddy bear, feeling a failure and no longer worthy to be a wife or mother," said Patricia. "1 offered my husband a separation and considered suicide. This led my family to entertain thoughts that I had killed Jonathan. " M y grief is a healed wound, but at each meeting or these past weeks when writing this statement. I re-live the pain, cutting through the new flesh and lay ing the wound bare," Patricia contin ued. "It hurts and 1 seek my way of finding relief of pain and peace. Also, instead of a simple grief process, the cover-up has created a complicated and yet unresolved grief process. God com mands us to forgive this man. With each lie and each delay, 1 again struggle to forgive." Tom Bains was also wracked for years with the self-doubt that he had contributed to his son's death for not getting the blood work done on Jonathan that Laws later said he ordered during a brief office visit in September 1992. " For over four years Dr. Laws main tained that I had committed a careless, irresponsible mistake resulting in cata strophic consequences," said Tom. In the years after Jonathan's death his father said he agonized over what he did with the blood work requisition Laws said he gave him. Friends and family viewed with disbelief his expla nation that Laws was mistaken and that the blame placed on he and his wife caused "serious damage" to the rela tionships with his wife, daughters and other loved ones. After the sentence was handed down Tuesday, Tom said too much time and effort has been spent trying the clear his name and that of Patricia and prove they did nothing wrong. The financial cost of the case -- in time, lost wages and opportunities, legal fees and a faltering business-- was conservatively estimated by Tom at more than $2 million. "A s a consequence of the lies, the forgery and the falsification, the med ical issues associated with my son Jonathan's death have not been dealt with," said Tom in his impact state ment. "The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario were diverted from the medical issues and dealt only with the cover-up." The Bains would also like to see a change in the system under which doc tors conduct business, so they have more time to understand the side effects and contraindications of the drugs they prescribe their patients. Tom backed up his point by explain ing that Cylert was pulled off the mar ket by Health Canada because doctors weren't using it responsibly since in clinical trials two per cent of users develop liver problems discovered only through proper blood tests - tests that were never done on Jonathan. Tom also explained later that as part of the civil suit which has been settled. Dr. Laws w ill issue a letter containing " serious admissions" regarding his con duct in relation to Jonathan's care. The undisclosed amount of money the fam ily will receive, now held in trust said Tom, will be given to charity. Patricia, a 1968 physio and occupa tional therapy graduate, said she was trained to treat patients following a doc tor's instructions and to trust and believe a doctor. " I placed doctors on a large step just below God," she said. " When a man who has been placed in this special trust position chooses to lie and cling to these lies for four and one half years, I lose confidence in men and the medical profession. Who can I trust besides God?"