At Frosta in Trøndelag, many of the 2,600 residents are despairing and furious, having lived side by side with an abuse case that has grown in scope and attention over the past nine months.
Fires loose
The citizens are angry with Arne Bye – the trusted municipal superintendent – who has now been suspended from his position, and accused of abusing his position to obtain sexual intercourse.
Bye has pleaded not guilty to the charge. He has also disagreed with the suspension from the Norwegian Health Authority.
Therefore, TV 2 identifies the accused:
Arne Bye has held a trusted position as chief municipal doctor in Frosta municipality for a number of years.
The serious charge deals with circumstances that must have occurred by virtue of his position.
There is, on a general basis, a superior relationship between doctor and patient, and therefore special requirements are placed on how to fulfill such a role.
Bye has, as a result of the notifications against him, lost his job and had his medical authorization suspended by the Norwegian Health Authority.
The investigation is at an early stage, but TV 2 considers that the scope and seriousness of the case nevertheless indicate that the public has a right to know who Bye is.
The citizens are also angry with their own municipality.
– Yes, I probably experience that. And rightly so.
This is what municipal director Endre Skjervø says in an interview with TV 2.
Here he fires at both the Norwegian Health Authority, the State Administrator in Trøndelag, and also at his own employer, Frosta municipality, where he has been employed for the past two years.
See the response from the Norwegian Health Authority and Arne Bye’s lawyer at the bottom of the case!
Announced in 2006
The municipal director blames the authorities for system failure, and for having been too lax in handling the first notifications against the municipal superintendent, who has also been the GP for around 1,700 patients.
The first notifications came as early as 2006.
Even then, several people in the municipal management were made aware of the serious warnings about Arne Bye’s practices.
– Frosta municipality should have stopped this earlier, says Skjervø.
But Arne Bye was allowed to hold on for another 16 years.
– In my opinion, there is reason to take considerable self-criticism on the part of the municipality, for not having followed up on the complaints, says Skjervø.
“Clit massage”
On 9 May last year, he received a letter from the State Administrator in Trøndelag, where he was informed that a supervisory case had been opened against Arne Bye.
Supervisory cases are cases which the State Administrator and possibly the National Health Inspectorate process on the basis of complaints from patients, relatives and others, which concern possible failures in health and care services.
CRITICIZES OWN MUNICIPALITY: Municipal director in Frosta municipality, Endre Skjervø, believes there is a need for an initiative from the government regarding a public investigation into the abuse case against municipal chief physician Arne Bye. Photo: Frank Lervik / TV 2
The background for the supervision case against Arne Bye was a complaint from a patient. The complaint was about sexualized language and offensive behavior in a treatment situation.
A common feature for the women who reported is that they perceived that the doctor performed a “clitoris massage” on them during treatment.
Arne Bye, for his part, has explained the unorthodox method as necessary for medical purposes.
68 reviews
In August 2022, Bye was charged.
In the time since, more and more women have contacted the police and the municipality’s hotline to tell about their experiences with their GP.
The police have seized thousands of hours of film from the doctor, and a separate group has been set up to go through the material.
– It will take several months to go through everything, says investigative leader Ellen Mari Burheim to TV 2.
The police in Trøndelag have so far received 68 reports from former patients. They have also received inquiries about the doctor from 130 people.
Nothing was done
We are going back to 2007. The year after the first notifications, Arne Bye received a warning from the Norwegian Health Authority.
– And that’s where it stops, says Skjervø.
– It doesn’t look like we have done anything afterwards to follow up and make sure it doesn’t happen again.
The National Health Inspectorate is the overall supervisory authority for social services in NAV, child protection and health and care services.
– They chose not to do anything
Municipal director Skjervø believes there is now a need for an initiative from the government regarding a public investigation.
– Both to see the matter in a larger perspective, and because already in 2006, you received the first notifications that something was wrong.
– Frosta municipality, the State Administrator in Trøndelag and the Norwegian Health Authority chose not to do anything about the notifications, says Skjervø.
– One person is to blame
The number of inquiries from desperate residents at Frosta has increased dramatically recently.
So much so that the municipality has found it necessary to increase staffing at the doctor’s office. It costs money – and the municipal director is clear about who he believes is responsible.
– There is one person who is to blame for the predicament that Frosta municipality is in now, as well as the financial consequences that the municipality will have to deal with for many years to come.
– It is Arne Bye who must bear that responsibility, he says.
He describes a state of shock and disbelief in the small Trøndelag municipality, where no one really knows when the ball will stop rolling.
– You think and believe that everything has come to light. Then a few days and weeks pass – and then even more comes. It never ends, says the municipal director.
TV 2 has submitted municipal director Endre Skjervø’s comment for Arne Bye’s defender Erlend Hjulstad Nilsen.
– Skjervø says that it is Arne Bye who is to blame for the predicament that Frosta municipality is in now, including the financial consequences. How does your client react to this statement?
– The statement must be at Skjærvø’s expense. Otherwise no comment, writes the defender in an email.
The Norwegian State’s Health Inspectorate, with department director Anne Myhr, writes the following in its response to the case:
– Endre Skjervø criticizes, among other things, the Norwegian Health Authority for not having followed up the case with Arne Bye. There were reports of concern in 2006, and in 2007 he received a warning from you. In what way did you see that Bye changed behavior in his practice?
– The doctor received a warning in 2007. The purpose of the reaction warning was (it has now been cancelled) to react to serious violations, help prevent future similar breaches of duty and ensure quality and trust in the health service. In general, healthcare personnel have considered a warning to be a strict reaction, and it was assumed that healthcare personnel who received a warning would comply with the warning. If the person concerned did not do so, the authority could revoke the authorisation. However, this presupposed that there were new complaints or other information indicating that the person in question had not corrected his practice.
We also informed Frosta municipality, through the councillor, in a separate letter of 5 March 2007 that Bye had received a warning about irresponsible activities so that the municipality could be aware and vigilant in relation to the problem, writes Myhr in an email.
– Should the Norwegian Health Authority have reacted in a different, and stronger, way?
– Assessing decisions in supervisory cases afterwards is demanding and will quickly be affected by new information that has come after the assessments and the decision in the case. Most of the information that has now come to light was not known to the inspectorate when the case was dealt with in 2007. At the same time, social development in the last 10-20 years has moved further in the direction of zero tolerance when it comes to violence and sexualised offences. The Norwegian Health Inspectorate has recently reviewed all supervisory cases over a ten-year period that deal with cross-border sexual acts. We see learning points and areas that can be improved, and work to follow up on these areas has begun and practice is changing.
– Skjervø says it testifies to a “significant system failure”, when the authorities that are set to control doctors, do not follow through. Would you agree with this?
– It is the health personnel themselves who are responsible for the services they provide and the actions they take. So regulations and supervision are under constant development. In recent years, the employer’s/company’s responsibility to ensure proper services in the form of following up and arranging for healthcare personnel has been clarified, and the inspectorate’s response options have been changed. With the current regulations, the inspectorate has a greater opportunity to follow up health personnel who have not complied with the expected norms and rules. There has been a new provision on professional orders and guidelines that restrictions on authorization are to be used to a greater extent.
– The municipal director believes that a full investigation of the matter should be launched, is this something you support?
– We carry out inspections within our areas of responsibility, and have no comments on that, concludes department director Anne Myhr.
