A Saanich doctor who admitted to attempting to use his cellphone to record co-workers using the washroom has been given a twelve-month conditional discharge.
The sentencing decision delivered to Mark David Thiessen means, if the doctor meets the conditions of the discharge, he will not be subjected to a criminal record.
Thiessen pleaded guilty earlier this month to secretly observing or recording nudity in a private place. Police were alerted in 2015 after an employee at the Saanich clinic where Thiessen worked found the doctor's cellphone set up in the corner of a bathroom stall. Later that day, Thiessen tried to take his own life.
While a police investigation didn't find any evidence he had actually recorded someone, the judge delivering a sentence said Thiessen's actions had a significant emotional impact on two co-workers, who left the clinic as a result. The judge also remarked that Thiessen's behaviour occurred during a depressive episode, of which he has a history. Conditions to be met to satisfy the conditional discharge include that Thiessen continue with mental health treatment.
The doctor now works at a clinic in View Royal. Due to his guilty plea, however, his license to practice medicine is now under review by the BC College of Physicians and Surgeons.