A doctor in Halifax has had his medical licence suspended for a month after he failed to properly post a sign warning women patients that he can't treat them without supervision.

Dr. Robert Wadden was first disciplined in 2015 by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia after admitting to professional misconduct during a pap examination on a female patient.

As a condition of that disciplinary decision, Wadden was ordered to put up a prominent sign in his office. The sign would tell patients he could only see women if he was accompanied by an attendant.

Wadden also served a brief suspension in 2015, and when he returned to work, the college found he failed to post the warning sign. Wadden told the college that when he arrived at work his first day back, his waiting room was already full of patients. He said he was too embarrassed to put up the sign.

"While it was no doubt embarrassing to post the sign, he could have posted it before the patients arrived," the college hearing committee wrote in its decision.

Posted in wrong place

The college checked on Wadden in August of this year, and found he had posted a sign. This time, it was posted near the ceiling in a corner of the waiting room.

The college had stipulated the warning was to be prominently displayed with large type and include the letterhead of the college, making it clear it was a condition Wadden had been ordered to follow.

The four-week suspension handed down in this latest case began on Oct. 11 and will end on Nov. 7. The college will continue to check on his practice when he resumes work to ensure a large sign with bold type is prominently displayed in both his waiting room and his examination rooms.

The sign is a permanent condition on Wadden's licence.