Doctor’s sex abuse was ‘reprehensible’

Discipline body says former Ottawa physician shamed whole profession

A former local rheumatologist was called before The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario on Wednesday to be reprimanded face to face for his “callous, unthinking, reprehensible and unforgivable” sexual abuse of four female patients in 2011.

“You have brought shame not only to yourself, but also to the profession as a whole,” read the reprimand delivered by the chairman of the CPSO discipline committee, which last October ordered that Dr. Tariq Iqbal be stripped of his licence to practice medicine.

“There is no place in our profession for a physician who abuses their patients for self-gratification. You will now leave this hearing room as a disgraced physician.”

The discipline committee had also ordered, after finding Iqbal guilty of professional misconduct, that he pay more than $49,000 to cover the cost of the disciplinary process and more than $64,000 for therapy for his victims.

The committee said Iqbal, now 50, was a busy rheumatologist who saw more than 5,000 patients a year.

He practised in Brockville, Manotick and Pembroke, and at the Queensway Carleton Hospital, where he worked between 2010 and his resignation in April 2014. Iqbal trained as a doctor in Pakistan before coming to Canada in 2003, supporting his family as a security guard before completing a residency at the University of Ottawa.

The four patients, each “extraordinarily vulnerable, given their significant symptoms,” independently complained of sexualized anal and vaginal exams by Iqbal in May and June of 2011. The women were alone with Iqbal, who didn’t leave the room after asking them to undress and helped two disrobe.

Two victims reported he made “groaning or moaning” sounds while engaged in what the committee called “a clear attempt to sexually stimulate patients.”

An expert testified that digital rectal exams would be rare and internal vaginal exams nonexistent in a rheumatology practice.

The patients were traumatized, telling the disciplinary hearing that they experienced lasting effects, including panic and anxiety, wariness of men and inability to trust male doctors. Three said that their sexual relationships with their husbands had been damaged.

“Thoughts of the assault have consumed me at times so I can think about nothing else,” one wrote.

Under a policy adopted in 2015, the college started forwarding disciplinary committee decisions to police when potential criminal acts — including sexual abuse — were involved, raising the possibility that criminal charges would be laid.

However, Brockville police Det. Sgt. Tom Fournier said no local charges are imminent.

“We have a copy of the decision of The College of Physicians and Surgeons, and from this we are aware of his discipline for misconduct. As a result of the decision, we are also aware that some of the occurrences took place in his office in Brockville,” said Fournier. “However, as of today, none of his local victims have chosen to come forward to the police and make a complaint.”

Fournier said the decision protected the identity of the victims and that police have no means to contact them.

The Ottawa courthouse has no record of charges against Iqbal.