Patients of disgraced psychiatrist Raymond Leibl think so highly of him they have hired a lawyer to try to save his medical licence.
But their groundswell of support may be too late to persuade a disciplinary hearing of the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons to let him keep his licence to practice in Ontario.
Last month, the committee found him guilty on more than a dozen charges, including sexual impropriety with patients, administering potentially lethal doses of a drug, physically and verbally abusing a patient, falsifying records, and engaging in conduct that is disgraceful, dishonourable or unprofessional.
Dr. Leibl pleaded not guilty. After his conviction, his licence was suspended pending the sentence hearing.
He had expected to learn yesterday what his punishment was to be, but 121 current and former patients, who call themselves the Committee of Concerned Patients of Dr. Leibl, forced a postponment.
In a move that is unprecedented in the history of the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons, the patients committee asked the college's discipline committee for intervenor status so it could argue against revocation. The discipline committee adjourned the sentencing hearing to Sept. 5, but will rule on the intervenor motion tomorrow.
Under rules governing the college, members of its discipline committee have the discretion to grant the intervenor motion.
Through their lawyer, Richard Shekter, and through affidavits, Dr. Leibl's patients yesterday sang his praises, calling him dedicated, compassionate and committed.
But, most important, they said they would be lost without him.
"Most of us, if not all of us, will be left without a viable therapeutic alternative," a 51-year-old patient stated in an affidavit. The woman described him as "an extraordinary and talented clinician."
In arguing that it was crucial for the four-member panel of doctors to hear from the patients themselves, Mr. Shekter related the comments of another patient: "A lot of us have nowhere else to go. You pull the ticket of Dr. Leibl and I'll be either on the street or worse."
Maureen Forestell, the college's lawyer, opposed allowing the patients to participate in the sentence hearing, saying that Dr. Leibl's lawyer already plans to call eight character witnesses and has presented 80 letters of reference.
Mr. Shekter said that Dr. Leibl's patients should not be penalized because of his single lapse in judgment in how he treated one female patient. But Ms. Forestell reminded the panel that they found many lapses in judgment when he was found guilty.
Among the 50 supporters who attended the hearing were two psychotherapists who also applauded Dr. Leibl for helping "marginalized" patients other doctors would not or could not treat.
Also present was Elizabeth McKenna, the woman whose complaint in 1997 about 20 years of abuse as Dr. Leibl's patient led to his conviction.
Yesterday, the 53-year-old woman said she was disappointed at the latest delay and was distraught "that he still has patients who say they will die without him" because it shows they are too dependent on him.
Dr. Leibl, who received his medical degree from the University of Toronto in 1970, practised reparenting therapy on Ms. McKenna. As part of this treatment, the therapist acts as the loving parent, giving hugs, and feeding the patient from baby bottles. In Ms. Mckenna's case, Dr. Leibl slapped her, forced her to stand in a corner for hours, ordered that she call him "Mommydaddy Ray," and engaged in simulated sex.
In the mid-1980s, Dr. Leibl diagnosed her with multiple personality disorder and began giving her sodium amytal, commonly known as truth serum, in injections or mixed with vodka to drink. She said that for almost a decade this treatment put her in a near-comatose state.
In convicting Dr. Leibl, the discipline committee found that he "bears no remorse for the repercussions of his behaviour" and that he demonstrates "an unwavering conviction that the end justified the means regardless of the consequences."