Galea ready to pay price in drug case
THE TORONTO sports physician who treated Alex Rodriguez, Tiger Woods and other high-profile athletes, and who pleaded guilty in 2011 in Buffalo federal court to bringing misbranded and unapproved drugs across the border, says he is willing to accept whatever punishment he is given by a Canadian medical regulatory body when a penalty hearing is scheduled later this year.
Even if the punishment is losing his license to practice medicine in his native Canada.
“I have to pay the price. I have no clue what the penalty is. I’m at the mercy of the committee,” Dr. Anthony Galea told the Daily News, referring to the discipline committee of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO).
The college’s discipline committee rendered a decision on Galea last Oct. 24, and found Galea had “committed an act of professional misconduct.” The decision — posted on the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario’s website — includes much detail from Galea’s U.S. federal case, including how he and his female assistant, Mary Anne Catalano, would bring unapproved drugs like Actovegin into the U.S. to treat patients. Catalano was arrested in September 2009 at the border when she was caught with Actovegin, and misbranded drugs in her car.
Galea was not and has never been licensed to practice medicine in the U.S. “I jumped the gun,” Galea told The News. “I had a license pending (to practice medicine in the U.S.). I should have waited until the license came.”
But Galea and his Canadian attorney, Brian Greenspan, are adamant about one thing: that Galea never used performanceenhancing drugs for treatment of his athlete clients, who also included Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran. Galea was sentenced to one year of supervised release in December 2011, by U.S. District Court Judge Richard Arcara of the Western District of New York. “There were no performance enhancers with anything I was doing,” said Galea. “But when I was indicted, that was it. It changed the course of history.”
Greenspan added that the PED claims have “dogged (Galea) for these many years.” “It’s just untrue and has never happened,” Greenspan said. “He has never engaged in it. Judge Arcara clearly accepts that and the prosecutor in Buffalo accepts that.”
Galea told the Associated Press in 2010 that he only treated A-Rod with anti-inflammatory medication after Rodriguez’s first hip surgery in 2009.
Asked about Rodriguez today, Galea, 57, said he is bound by doctor/patient confidentiality laws and is prevented from discussing individual cases.
Greenspan said there is an in camera issue in the case that has to be resolved in early February, and that the penalty hearing will be scheduled afterward, possibly in late March or early April. Greenspan said that if he and Galea do not think the forthcoming penalty by the CPSO is fair, they will consider an appeal. Greenspan said it’s also possible Galea’s legal team would bring dozens of Galea’s clients — he’s still been practicing in Toronto since his 2011 guilty plea — to the penalty hearing to vouch for Galea’s character.
Sources tell The News that Catalano did not testify in any proceeding or interview by the CPSO discipline committee. Catalano pleaded guilty in the federal case to lying to border agents. She was sentenced to one year probation. “We’ll argue that (Galea) has been and is an extraordinary healer, and that he’s using only legal, appropriate, non-performance-enhancing techniques. He’s continued to have a robust practice,” said Greenspan.
According to the CPSO’s penalty guidelines, Galea could have his medical license revoked or suspended. He could also be fined as much as $35,000.00.
Galea said he’s willing to accept any blow, even if it means the end of his medical career.
“I’m to blame. I just want a fair punishment, at the end of day,” said Galea. “No one complained as a patient in Canada. Does that justify my losing my license in Canada? I don’t know. I did what I thought was the utmost care for my patients. I made a genuine impact on lives. But I’ve just got to take the punishment.”