Toronto anesthesiologist George Doodnaught found guilty of molesting 21 patients

A Toronto anesthesiologist who had been accused of molesting 21 female surgery patients over a four-year period was found guilty on Tuesday in a series of sex acts forced upon sedated women.

Dr. George Doodnaught was decried as a "sexual opportunist" who preyed on women he had sedated for a series of surgeries at Toronto's North York General Hospital between 2006 and 2010.

Twenty-one women between the ages of 25 and 75 complained that Doodnaught kissed them, fondled parts of their body and forced them to perform oral sex while they were under sedation.

[ Related: Anesthesiologist guilty of molesting women during surgery ]

The Canadian Press reports that many of his victims were in the Toronto courtroom when Doodnaught was found guilty of all 21 charges.

The verdict comes at the end of a months-long delay. The trial judge requested in September more time to consider the mountain of evidence against the defendant.

That evidence includes testimony from an operating nurse, who said she caught a surprised Doodnaught pulling up his surgical pants in the middle of a procedure. The patient's mouth was said to be agape at the time. The same nurse reported seeing him position a woman's head oddly during a 2010 surgery. The woman in that surgery is among the complainants.

[ More Brew: Conrad Black loses bid to mount in-person defence to keep his Order of Canada ]

Doodnaught did much of his work as an anesthesiologist behind a curtain during surgery, providing him with a certain level of privacy with which to commit his crimes

The anesthesiologist's lawyer had argued that sedation drugs are known to cause sexual fantasies in some cases, suggesting that is why more than 20 of his patients left surgery believing they had been abused.

That argument was found lacking.