A London psychiatrist has lost her medical licence and been fined after pleading no contest to professional misconduct charges of sexual abuse of a patient.

A London psychiatrist has lost her medical licence and been fined after pleading no contest to professional misconduct charges of sexual abuse of a patient.

Karin Kerfoot, who worked at London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC), was facing the hearing after being accused of starting a relationship with a patient who was under her care from January 2015 to June 2016. She initially had her licence suspended in September 2017, following the allegations.

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Kerfoot pleaded no contest to the allegations from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, the body that regulates physicians in the province and that held the disciplinary hearing Monday.

Kerfoot wasn’t present at the hearing and the plea was entered by her lawyers, officials say.

According to an uncontested statement of facts, a copy of which was obtained by The Free Press, Kerfoot, 45, began treating a man after he was admitted to LHSC’s adult mental health care program.

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About four months later, Kerfoot and the man, whose name is protected under a publication ban, went to a bar and later had sexual relations. It was the first of several sexual encounters between Kerfoot and the patient, who remained under her care until June 2016.

During this time, they also exchanged texts through the messaging service WhatsApp, stayed in several London hotels and made a trip together to Toronto.

The college also found Kerfoot was guilty of lying to the hospital and the college when she initially denied her relationship with the man, according to the statement of uncontested facts.

The man’s relationship with Kerfoot caused “great emotional impact” to him, according to a statement he submitted to the discipline hearing.

“Emotionally, I have found that I can no longer trust the psychiatric profession because of what has happened to me,” he wrote. “My relationship with doctors is non-existent.”

The college’s disciplinary panel decided to revoke Kerfoot’s licence and ordered her to pay $10,000 to cover the costs of the hearing and post a letter of credit for $16,000 for potential therapy costs of the man, officials say.