From thestar.com
A Sarnia physician who was found by a civil court to have pinned down a fellow doctor in her home and sexually assaulted her has continued to practise medicine “without consequence,” a judge said.
Dr. Syed Nasir Ali was ordered in April by Superior Court Justice Johanne Morissette to pay Dr. B $200,000 in damages for the 1999 incident.
Ali was never criminally charged for the assault. (Dr. B did report the incident to police). Ali’s profile on the public register of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario shows no discipline history or restrictions on his licence.
“The fact is that Dr. Ali has not had to atone for his actions since 1999,” Morissette wrote. “He has continued to practise medicine and live in Sarnia without consequence for the sexual assault he committed on (Dr. B).”
A civil case requires a lower burden of proof than criminal cases, which is proof beyond a reasonable doubt. In civil court, it must be proven that it was more likely than not that the alleged incident occurred.
Ali’s lawyer, Nina Perfetto, declined to comment to the Star as Ali intends to appeal the ruling.
The Star is not naming Dr. B as it does not identify victims of sexual assault without their consent.
“In reaction to the verdict, I felt an extreme sense of relief as I had suffered humiliation for 17 years,” Dr. B told the Star in an emailed statement. “I believe that Dr. Ali’s conduct should result in serious professional consequences. I hope that the College of Physicians and Surgeons deals with this situation appropriately.”
The college has the power to discipline physicians for conduct that took place in their private life, and Dr. B’s case highlights the lack of information shared publicly by the medical regulator regarding its investigations.
A college spokesperson said she could not confirm or deny that Ali is in fact being investigated.
“Certainly I would expect in the face of a decision like this that the college would want to launch their own independent investigation,” said medical malpractice lawyer Paul Harte, who was not involved in the case.
“In my view, the college should indicate whether they are in fact investigating the civil findings. Such a statement would reassure the public and it would create little or no prejudice to the doctor (Ali) given the public finding of the civil court.”
Ali and Dr. B first met in the early 1990s when they were both married with young children, court heard. Dr. B said they would speak regularly as they shared much in common.
Ali testified that the two had had an extramarital affair that began around 1992, which included sex in his car, in a park — “he remembered that the leaves were changing colour,” Morissette wrote — and at North York General Hospital.
Dr. B denied the affair and Ali’s testimony on that point carried no weight in the judge’s findings. Morissette noted that an affair was never mentioned in any of Ali’s statements of defence.
Read more here