Disparaging defence: Doctor suspended for sexual abuse portrayed patient as a promiscuous weed smoker

An Ontario doctor found guilty of sexually abusing a female patient tried to sway the discipline tribunal’s decision in his favour by portraying the patient as sexually promiscuous and prone to risky behaviour because she smoked cannabis. Dr. Jamal Aboujamra, a Toronto family physician, was suspended on Sept. 20 by the Ontario Physicians and Surgeons Discipline Tribunal. The suspension is an interim measure pending a penalty order. According to the decision document issued by the tribunal, Dr. Aboujamra touched areas of the patient’s body, including her breasts and vagina, in a sexual manner on a number of occasions. He also made inappropriate comments, such as describing the patient’s breasts as “perky” and telling her his artist brother wants to do a nude painting of her because she was a “free girl.” Dr. Aboujamra also failed to provide the patient with privacy while she was undressing and displaced her clothing without warning and without her consent, according to the decision document. Read: Doctor who gave two patients unsolicited sex counselling during vaginal exam is suspended ahead of final sanctions In her complaint and during interviews with the college investigator, the patient said that saw Dr. Aboujamra over three years starting in July 2015, when she was 21 years old. During this period, Dr. Aboujamra touched, groped and squeezed her breasts, nipples, legs and inner thighs. He also touched her vagina inappropriately during or after a Pap test, during an examination of her skin and while she was sitting in a chair. In addition to these actions, Dr. Aboujamra had pressed himself against her and made numerous inappropriate comments about her body, the patient told investigators. Dr. Aboujamra asked questions about her sex life, including what sex acts and positions she engaged in, and told her she should have sex with more people while she was young. In deciding on the case, the tribunal acknowledged that its results “turns almost entirely on a contest of credibility and reliability between the member and the patient.” Based on a “fair review” of testimony from the patient and Dr. Aboujamra, and taking into account current legal decisions and the caution about “myths and stereotypes about how alleged victims come to report what has happened to them,” the tribunal concluded that “while imprecise at times,” the patient’s evidence was credible and reliable “in relation to the core allegations of improper sexual touching of her vagina and inner thighs, touching of her breast and sexual comments.” Read: Roundup: How do Canada's physician colleges differ on handling sexual misconduct complaints? By comparison, the tribunal found Dr. Aboujamra displayed “a tendency to avoid and deflect attention rather than to address the substantive issues squarely. This has left us with a lack of confidence that he was being straightforward and giving us his best information on the allegations that are before us.” The tribunal also questioned Dr. Aboujamra’s efforts to disparage the patient’s character. He described her as “loud, expressive patient who demanded a lot from our front staff,” but this characterization was disputed by his employees, who told the college the patient was “kind” and “not rude.” In his initial written response to the college complaint, Dr. Aboujamra recounted that the patient had told him she had four boyfriends. “She counted them off with names,” Dr. Aboujamra wrote in his response, “and told me that one buys her food, one pays her bills, one buys her smokes, and one helps with her rent.” Read: No explanation, no consent: Surgeon suspended for touching breasts of two female patients Dr. Aboujamra also told the college that the patient had told him she had sex with several people at the same time at a downtown sex club, and had explained to him that “men pay for the service and drinks and women don’t.” “It is difficult to understand exactly what Dr. Aboujamra was trying to convey to the college that was relevant to Patient A’s complaint,” wrote the tribunal in its decision document. “There is nothing in the chart to support these multiple accusations, and the impression of Patient A that the member conveys to the college is at best a sexist description of a woman who is trading sex for material benefits from four men. Again, there is no reliable evidence that any of this is accurate, and it could only be calculated to predispose the college against Patient A.” Similarly, the tribunal was skeptical about why Dr. Aboujamra thought it necessary to point out that the patient smoked cannabis. “I had many patients who are, like, exposed to severe things because they were under drugs or alcohol or anything,” Dr. Aboujamra told the tribunal, according to the decision document. “And they accuse others after that, like, 'oh, I found myself in a position, and I don't know what happened to me that night,' and like something like that.” Read: REVOKED: Toronto doctor sexually assaulted patient and invited her to 'arousal sessions' In what the tribunal described as a “grooming” tactic, Dr. Aboujamra admitted that he spoke to the patient’s mother to try to find out if she knew anything about the patient’s sexual activities. “Dr. Aboujamra was attempting to determine whether Patient A’s mother knew anything about what was taking place during Patient A’s appointments, and to gauge from her reaction whether it was safe to sexually abuse Patient A,” wrote the tribunal. Dr. Aboujamra is now awaiting a penalty order and decision on costs. Read: Family doctor loses licence after incompetence, sex assault charges

Disparaging defence: Doctor suspended for sexual abuse portrayed patient as a promiscuous weed smoker

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