Gynecologist barred from practising medicine
Maraghi ‘made victims of women,’ committee says
A former St. Mary’s Hospital gynecologist found guilty of repeated sexual misconduct has been permanently barred from Quebec’s Collège des médecins.
Kamal Maraghi, 75, was found guilty by the Collège des médecins’ disciplinary committee last June. He had been accused by three patients, all young women at the time, of incidents occurring in 1995, 2006 and 2008.
In a strongly worded decision on his sanction, made public Thursday, the disciplinary committee said Maraghi abused his power and took advantage of the women during vulnerable moments.
“(Maraghi) made victims of these women,” the committee wrote in its decision. “Using them as objects he could abuse instead of treating them with the respect each one of them deserved.”
Permanently barring him from the Collège is one of the most severe sanctions the committee can impose.
Maraghi, who has 40 years of experience as a gynecologist, had argued during sanctioning hearings that he should be temporarily barred for no more than six months per complaint and be fined a maximum of $3,000. The disciplinary committee disagreed. On top of being permanently barred, Maraghi has also been ordered to pay $4,500 to each of the three women.
The incidents took place at Polyclinique Masson in Rosemont and a Clinique Métro Stat in Longueuil. The patients who brought forward the complaints were 19, 20 and 29 years old at the time. The women gave emotional testimony about their accounts before the disciplinary committee in October 2015.
During their examinations with Maraghi, all three women said they were never offered a gown to cover themselves, that he made quick back and forth motions in their vaginas and had touched their clitorises. One claimed he didn’t wear gloves during her examination.
Another woman, who was 20 at the time, said he caused her to have an orgasm on the examination table while asking inappropriate questions about her sex life.
“It was the worst moment of my entire life,” she testified, breaking down in tears.
“The disciplinary committee witnessed the courage needed by all three women to testify,” the decision notes, adding that they did so with poise and credibility. “The committee felt, and understood, the distress, shame and anger some of them still feel today, more than 20 years later.”
At the time of the hearings, Maraghi was still practising once a week at St. Mary’s Hospital. The hospital told the Montreal Gazette last June that he had resigned by then. He also resigned as a member of the Collège in July 2016.
Maraghi had denied the complaints during the hearings, testifying that he didn’t remember the three women and calling their allegations “completely false,” “unrealistic,” and “gratuitous.”
He had argued the patients had misinterpreted his acts, an argument the disciplinary committee found wasn’t credible, ultimately noting that Maraghi is “unworthy of practising medicine.”
Maraghi was also charged with three counts of sexual assault in criminal court last December. His case is expected back in court in mid-April.