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By Peggy Revell on August 18, 2017.

MHPS Insp. Joe West speaks during a press conference Thursday morning. Dr. Ian Gebhardt, 55, a local physician, is facing charges of sexual assult and sexual exploitation of a person with a disability, and is scheduled to appear in court Sept. 14.--NEWS PHOTO EMMA BENNETT MHPS Insp. Joe West speaks during a press conference Thursday morning. Dr. Ian Gebhardt, 55, a local physician, is facing charges of sexual assult and sexual exploitation of a person with a disability, and is scheduled to appear in court Sept. 14.--NEWS PHOTO EMMA BENNETT



prevell@medicinehatnews.com

A Medicine Hat family doctor faces charges of sexual assault and sexual exploitation of a person with a disability.

“It’s alleged that in June of 2017, a patient attended a walk-in medical appointment in the city of Medicine Hat, where during an examination, the adult male patient was sexually assaulted,” Insp. Joe West said at a press conference Thursday.

“Medicine Hat Police Service investigators are concerned there may be other victims in the community, and are asking anyone with information to contact the MHPS.”

Charged is Dr. Ian Gebhardt, 55, who practises at the Crescent Heights Family Medical Clinic.

Clinic staff declined to comment when contacted by the News to ask if Gebhardt remains working at the clinic since the allegations. The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta lists Gebhardt as having his practice permit, with no restrictions. CPSA’s website also shows no history of disciplinary action in the past five years — the only range of time it publishes online.

The CPSA takes allegations like these extremely seriously, said complaints director Michael Caffaro.

“Granted we’ve just learned of this particular one, we’ve got work to do. But these are high priority for us,” he said.

If a complaint is deemed to be of sufficient gravity, the CPSA will open an investigation. An investigation can lead to a hearing tribunal — although only a minority of cases end up at tribunal.

“An allegation is just that — it needs to be investigated, and so there’s no necessary assumption of guilt,” he said.

The timeframe for dealing with allegations can be anywhere from three months to a year.

CPSA’s own process tends to be separate from the criminal process, said Caffaro, and they collect their information differently.

They can request assistance and information but police and Crown aren’t required to share any information, he said — meaning the CPSA will be basically starting from scratch for this investigation.

West said the incident was “very vigorously investigated, and taken very seriously by our police service.”

Sexual exploitation is a charge that comes when someone is in a position of authority and trust, while the victim is in a position of dependency, he said.

“These types of investigations are not simple, they’re very complex,” said West on the span of time from when the incident is alleged to have occurred, and the police sharing the information with the public. “They do take a long time in some cases to pull the evidence together. The sensitive nature of this investigation — we have to get all our investigations right — but we make sure that we had the proper evidence to lay those charges.”

MHPS’s family crimes unit was “very instrumental” in the investigation, he said.

“(They’re) trained to interview people who have disabilities or vulnerabilities, and they’re very skilled at getting the best information in the best possible way,” he said.

Incidents like this are not common, he said, although they do still occur.

“As far as the (medical) profession is concerned, I think these are very isolated incidents, and I think our physicians deserve and get a great deal of trust and I don’t think there’s any reason to doubt the trust of our physicians out there.”

Gebhardt has been released on bail and is scheduled to return to court on Sept. 14.

According to the CPSA’s online directory, Gebhardt graduated with his medical degree in 2005 from McMaster University.

He is originally from Ontario, but participated in the Rural Physician Action Plan’s “Alberta Rural Family Medicine Residence program” in 2005 in southern Alberta, according to a publication by the organization from that same year.