Manitoba doctor accused of inappropriately touching two patients agrees to leave medicine for good

A Manitoba doctor accused of touching two female patients inappropriately has agreed to stop practising medicine in Canada or in any other jurisdiction. Dr. Nihad Nagy William, who worked as a family physician in Thompson and Winnipeg, voluntarily surrendered his certificates of registration and practice effective July 4, and is permanently restricted from practising in any regulated health profession. He has denied the allegations against him and The Medical Post was unable to reach him for comment. The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba, which reiterated in a July 8 statement that the accusations against Dr. William are unproven, has ordered him to pay the college $25,000 in costs. “I commend the two women for coming forward,” CPSM’s registrar, Dr. Anna Ziomek, wrote in the statement. “I recognize the difficulty and courage it takes to do so.” The allegations stem from two separate patient visits, one in 2018 and the other in 2019. In the 2018 visit, a patient came as a walk-in to get a prescription refill for pain management medication. According to the patient, Dr. William directed her to bend forward and touch her toes. As she was doing this, Dr. William pressed his body against hers, squeezed her waist and put his face against the area between her buttocks and vagina. In the second complaint, a patient who visited Dr. William in 2019 for an assessment of eczema on her elbows said he told her to lower her pants and underpants. He then put his arms around her and touched her bare buttocks with his hands. He also asked her to stand while her buttocks and genital area were exposed and looked at her legs while in close proximity to her. Both patients reported “significant emotional harm” as a result of Dr. William’s actions, the CPSM said in a document posted on its website on July 5. Dr. William had agreed to have a chaperone present for all examinations involving female patients while the investigation committee at the CPSM probed into the complaints, the document stated. The case was subsequently referred to the inquiry committee and a contested hearing was scheduled for June 8. However, about two months before the scheduled hearing, the investigation committee proposed that Dr. William surrender his certificates of registration and practice and agree to stop working in healthcare. “This was considered to potentially offer better protection than the orders available to a panel of the inquiry committee,” the CPSM stated in the July 5 document. “While an inquiry panel can cancel a member’s registration, it cannot preclude that member from applying for reinstatement or from applying for registration in another jurisdiction.” The investigation committee also took into account both patients’ concerns about testifying in a hearing. While both were willing to do so, “that prospect caused them anxiety, and both stated that testifying would be a traumatizing experience. The complainants in this case were consulted and satisfied with the proposed resolution.” A big concern for both patients, said the CPSM, was the possibility that what happened to them could happen to another patient. “Permanent and irrevocable voluntary surrender precludes that eventuality,” wrote the CPSM.

Manitoba doctor accused of inappropriately touching two patients agrees to leave medicine for good

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