Indeed, the patients currently suing ousted psychiatrist Richard Golden likely stand a better chance winning a lottery than collecting compensation from the sex predator should a civil court find him liable.

Like most medical practitioners in Canada, Golden -- banished by the profession last year after he was found to have sexually abused several emotionally broken patients -- has access to all the free industrial-strength legal representation he needs, be it in criminal proceedings or civil court, through government-funded membership in a national plan.

Now, it stands to reason that medical-protection coverage of a doctor's legal defences would extend to payment of any damages awarded those victims whom the court found were harmed by his actions.

And the Canadian Medical Protection Association does -- if the harm to the patient was caused by a doctor's medical negligence. But not when the damage to a patient was caused by his sexual abuse.

Those patients are left twisting in the wind.

Called a "dry judgment" in legal circles, it means an injured plaintiff awarded damages against Golden has to chase him down on her own -- a costly and arduous battle, made more difficult since the west-side condo owner is pleading poverty as well as mental incompetence following the aptly-timed diagnoses of several mental dysfunctions.

Creditors -- among them the College of Physicians and Surgeons, which is suing Golden for $120,000 for the cost of the investigation that led to his dismissal -- concede the poverty card is hard to swallow, given that Golden and psychiatrist wife Susan billed the B.C. Ministry of Health about $5.3 million in gross revenue over the past decade, an average of $530,000 a year. And that doesn't include services paid for by private insurers, the Insurance Corp. of B.C. and WorkSafe.

According to financial statements posted by the Medical Services Commission, the disgraced physician laid claim to at least 75 per cent of the couple's annual gross billings for services provided at their Vancouver clinic.

Until summer of 2005 when, facing charges of gross misconduct for sexual antics with three psychiatric patients who complained to the college, the 48-year-old agreed to stop practising and step down.

Susan's gross billings to Victoria, previously in the $125,000-a-year range, more than tripled after that, to $430,188 in fiscal 2005-2006.

In the meantime, I've learned that more women have come forward alleging sexual abuse while under his care for eating disorders and depression, raising the number to five from the three initially found by a college investigatory panel to have been exploited, sexually abused and harmed by Golden.

Our criminal laws state a person who abuses his position of trust or authority by inciting a complainant to engage in sexual relations may be guilty of a criminal act.

However, none of the women has given statements to Vancouver's sexual offence squad, and college officials insist privacy regulations mean they won't be paying a visit to the cop shop anytime soon.