Lawyer says sports doctor facing ‘draconian’ penalty
Galea could have licence to practise medicine revoked
It was 2011 when a U.S. court released Anthony Galea on a form of parole, calling the sports doctor to American mega stars a generally upstanding, model physician — even though he pleaded guilty to a drug-importation crime.
The American court’s “supervision” order is long over, but six years on, Ontario’s medical regulator is finally now dealing with the physician over the same misconduct.
And it is proposing a “draconian” penalty that could end Galea’s career, one that has earned plaudits from around the world, his lawyer says.
The College of Physicians and Surgeons will urge a discipline tribunal to revoke the doctor’s licence, despite his contrition over the eight-year-old American offence and a spotless record since, lawyer Brian Greenspan said Tuesday.
“(The college) asks, in my opinion, for an unprecedented and unconscionable penalty,” Greenspan said as a weeklong college discipline hearing began. “This is a doctor who contributed enormously to the health of this province, to the betterment of patients of this province and the province shouldn’t be deprived of that.”
Carolyn Silver, the college’s lawyer, made no comment on what penalty she would request at the inquiry, being held solely to determine punishment since Galea, 57, has already admitted to professional misconduct. But she did not deny she was seeking revocation.
She also introduced into evidence a report by another college committee that implemented a review of the doctor’s practice, recommending last year he undergo special courses to address lapses and ordering he be reassessed later.
Galea unexpectedly took the witness stand, saying he once rationalized his crime as a “Robin Hood” act, but now realizes there was no excuse for what he did.
“I lied and it’s wrong,” he told the five-person tribunal. “I made stupid mistakes, bad choices, which have caused me and my family intense suffering since 2009. If I could take it back, I would.”
Galea was convicted by a federal judge in Buffalo, N.Y., of importing “misbranded” drugs into the U.S. and misleading border officials about them.
They were medicines the Toronto doctor used to treat an “A list” of professional athletes, including golfer Tiger Woods, baseball great Alex Rodriguez and NFL star Jamal Lewis.
The case broke in 2009 when Galea’s assistant was stopped at the border as she tried to take the drugs and equipment into the U.S., lying that the medicines were intended for presentations at a conference.
Evidence indicates the drugs were used to treat injuries, Galea’s claim to fame in the sports medicine world.
One of the substances was a form of human-growth hormone — banned by most professional sports leagues as a potential performance booster — but the doctor diluted it to minute volumes in homeopathic solutions.
Galea pleaded guilty to misconduct before the college committee last October, admitting to making several trips to the U.S. between 2007 and 2009, and earning about $800,000 in fees, despite not being licensed to practice there.
He said Tuesday he felt particularly awful about involving his young assistant in the trouble, saying the woman’s family had viewed him as a trusted mentor. She pleaded guilty to a felony.
Greenspan called three character witnesses — with six more scheduled to testify — each of whom raved about Galea’s treatment of their various sports-related ailments.
They included Peter Gilgan, owner of Mattamy Homes, Canada’s biggest house builder; an RCMP officer who is also an amateur athlete; and a junior hockey goalie once told he might never play again — before Galea began to treat his knee injury.
“To me, his integrity is second to none, his thoroughness, his attention to detail,” Gilgan said. “His genuine care for the patient seems to come across every time.”
Greenspan questioned Galea about his research, including pioneering work on using plateletrich plasma (PRP) — blood concentrated to remove the red-blood cells — to treat musculoskeletal injuries.
Meanwhile, the 2016 college committee report that Silver introduced as evidence concluded that Galea needed to take more care with obtaining informed consent from patients, knowing when to provide PRP injections and keeping medical records.
But Greenspan noted that an orthopedic surgeon assessed his practice and concluded he was doing an excellent job.
As well as the 2016 report, Silver introduced a college caution against the doctor from 1994 over evidence he provided in an accident case, suggesting he failed to provide pertinent information about a patient’s medical history.
I MADE STUPID MISTAKES, BAD CHOICES ... IF I COULD TAKE IT BACK, I WOULD.