A still-practicing physician from Ontario has been ordered to pay nearly $700,000 in connection with a sexual assault for which he was found responsible\u00a0last year. The Sarnia\u00a0doctor was found liable\u00a0in civil court of the 1999 sexual assault of a former colleague and friend and ordered to pay her $200,000 in damages. The doctor has also been ordered to pay prejudgment interest to the tune of more than $155,000, court costs of $325,000 and $15,000 in\u00a0fees pertaining to his appeal.<\/p>\n
The doctor was not charged criminally for the incident since the victim did not notify police at the time. \u00a0The defendant told the court that both he and his colleague were married to others at the time and involved in an affair — an assertion the woman, who is also a doctor, denied. The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario is currently conducting its own investigation since the doctor is still practicing medicine despite the civil court judgment.<\/p>\n
The physician appealed the compensation amount, asserting that the most he should have to pay is $50,000 because it was a one-time incident and there was no psychological harm to his former colleague and friend. But the judge’s decision stood in regard to what he described as a morally reprehensible act. The fact that the doctor was not charged criminally was also a determining factor.<\/p>\n