Grande Prairie physician's practice permit cancelled after sex abuse ruling

College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta logo. (CPSA)

A Grande Prairie doctor who sexually abused a patient has seen her practice permit cancelled.

Brianne Hudson was suspended by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta in early 2023, pending a decision about how she would be sanctioned.

The college announced Friday Hudson's practice permit and registration would be cancelled, as outlined by the Health Professions Act.

She was also fined $5,000 for providing false information during her annual renewal and ordered to pay two-thirds of the cost of the investigation and hearing, up to $90,000.

As was revealed in January after Hudson was suspended, the family physician first met the patient during her residency in 2011.

They met again in 2016, after a workplace accident had left him paraplegic. He regularly visited the hospital where she worked because of an opioid addiction.

Hudson took over his care at the hospital in 2018, also learning then that he faced two to five years in prison.

She helped him, including financially and by offering him a place to live.

The relationship "became sexual" in August 2019 and concerned Hudson's supervisors and the college, although Hudson said she had not acted as the patient's doctor since December 2018.

Calling the patient's circumstances "highly vulnerable" and noting the power imbalance between the two people, the college found Hudson's actions amounted to sexual abuse.