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Doctor abused 21 sedated women
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A Canadian anesthesiologist convicted of sexually assaulting 21 sedated women during surgeries has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Ontario Superior Court Justice David McCombs said Dr George Doodnaught, 65, exploited patients’ trust and his conduct “did enormous damage and was reprehensible in the extreme.”
“The profound psychological impact of the physical violations has been compounded by the victims’ deep feelings of betrayal — that these offenses were committed during surgery, by a medical doctor, in an operating room, a place of ultimate vulnerability and trust,” McCombs said in sentencing Doodnaught on Tuesday.
Many of Doodnaught’s victims were in the courtroom and wiped away tears as the sentence was read. Their victim impact statements at an earlier sentencing hearing told of “debilitating” feelings of anger and bitterness, shame, panic attacks, loss of self-worth, distrust of doctors and an inability to form intimate relationships, McCombs said.
The judge said that in several cases Doodnaught “compounded his victims’ sense of violation and humiliation by manipulating them to try to make them believe they were somehow responsible — that they had initiated sexual contact or had engaged in sexually explicit conversations.”
Though Doodnaught was sentenced to 10 years, he may not spend much time in custody. Doodnaught intends to appeal, and the Court of Appeal for Ontario was set to hear an application yesterday to let him out on bail.
During his trial, most of the 21 victims, between the ages of 25 and 75, took the stand against Doodnaught.
They gave similar accounts of being kissed and fondled by him, and of having his penis placed in their mouths or hands. The women said they were conscious enough to be aware of what was happening, but could not move.
An anesthesiologist since 1981, Doodnaught had worked at North York General for 28 years.
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