Already under investigation, Toronto doctor accused of touching patient inappropriately
From thestar.com
A Toronto doctor has been accused of inappropriately touching a patient while the physician was already under investigation by Ontario’s medical watchdog for the alleged sexual assault of another patient.
On Aug. 23, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario’s discipline committee found that Dr. Donato Anthony Ruggiero engaged in “sexual impropriety” with Patient 1 by placing his penis in her vagina during a medical exam in or around 1986.
Ruggiero is now scheduled to appear before the CPSO discipline committee to face allegations that he touched the breasts of Patient 2 in 2015, more than a year after Patient 1’s complaint over the alleged 1980s incident was filed.
In 2013, Patient 1 filed a complaint with the CPSO, alleging that Ruggiero sexually assaulted her during an exam around 1986.
According to Patient 1’s testimony before a CPSO disciplinary committee, she was lying on the doctor’s examining table when she sensed something that “did not feel right.” She said she looked up to see that Ruggiero had unzipped his pants, put a condom on and had his penis halfway into her vagina.
Ruggiero’s lawyer Jenny Stephenson said the doctor denies these allegations.
“He states that he did not do it and I believe that to be true,” Stephenson said. “And I think that an appeal is likely.”
CPSO investigators began looking into Patient 1’s complaint in early 2014 and had informed Ruggiero of the complaint against him no later than March 31, 2014, according to the CPSO discipline committee’s decision.
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