Doctor who sexually assaulted sedated patients now free on statutory release
An anesthesiologist who sexually assaulted 21 sedated women during their surgeries is now free on statutory release.
In a decision from Oct. 15, the parole board of Canada lays out how George Doodnaught was convicted in 2014 of sexually assaulting women between the ages of 25 to 75, largely at North York General Hospital.
Doodnaught assaulted his victims over a four-year span in the operating room while they underwent gynecological, orthopedic, and other surgeries. They were all semi-conscious at the time, according to the decision, and "were unable to offer meaningful resistance."
The parole board's decision notes the criteria for "serious harm" has been met in the case, which is backed up by victim impact statements.
His bid for early parole was denied last year, and at that time the board heard from two victims, who described the ongoing, serious psychological trauma Doodnaught's actions inflicted upon them. Statutory release is mandatory under law, which requires that federal offenders who have served two-thirds of a fixed-length sentence be released from prison under supervision.
In its latest decision, the board said Doodnaught's offending was work-related, as that's where he had access to victims — and so it has banned him from any work or volunteer positions without prior approval from his parole officer.
The board also imposed an order that Doodnaught have no contact with any of his victims or their families.
It also imposed conditions that he must follow a treatment plan for sexual deviancy and report all of his relationships with women to a parole supervisor.
In its decision from last year denying early parole, the board said Doodnaught showed little insight into the trauma he caused.
"You deny committing the offences and blamed the anesthetics for the patients' belief that they had been assaulted," the parole board said in 2019. "In some cases, you manipulated the victims into believing that they had initiated the sexual contact or that they had engaged you in explicit sexual conversation."
In support of his previous parole bid last year, Doodnaught admitted to having a "touchy-feely" approach. He said he had pioneered a technique of pinching the abdomens and breasts of female patients to gauge their degree of sedation.
At the time, the board called that explanation an attempt at justifying his crimes and said it demonstrated his "well documented arrogance" and lack of insight.
The most recent written decision does not offer an explanation as to if that insight had changed.
