discipline summaries
A reprimand is required by law where a finding of
sexual abuse has been made. The force of a personal
reprimand should not be underestimated. A reprimand
will provide the Committee the opportunity to address
the member’s misconduct in a face to face encounter.
It also supports the principles of specific and general
deterrence.
The Committee determined that payment by Dr.
Iqbal to the College of its costs is appropriate in this
matter. The Committee was aware that costs should be
reasonable and not punitive. The Committee ordered
that costs in the amount of $49,060 representing 11
days at the tariff rate of $4,460 be payable by Dr.
Iqbal to the College.
In summary, the Committee ordered the following:
revocation, a reprimand, reimbursement to the College for funding provided to patients under the program required under section 85.7 of the Code with an
i rrevocable letter of credit in the amount of $64,240,
and payment to the College for costs in the amount of
$49,060.
Order
For complete details of the Order, please see the
full decision at www.cpso.on.ca . Select Doctor
Search and enter the Doctor’s Name.
On November 17, 2015, Dr. Iqbal appealed the decision of the Discipline Committee to the Divisional Court.
On December 3, 2015, Dr. Iqbal abandoned the appeal of the decision of the Discipline Committee to the
Divisional Court.
Text of Public Reprimand
Dr. Iqbal, it is always unfortunate when a member
of our profession appears before this Committee. An
essential component of the physician-patient relationship is trust and that the physician will always place
the best interests of their patients before their own. You
have breached that trust. Being a physician involves a
responsibility to care for your patients in an appropriate, civil and respectful manner, none of which you
exhibited. This Committee was shocked and dismayed
to hear of the reprehensible manner you treated some of
your most vulnerable patients. It was callous, unthinking, reprehensible and unforgiveable. Your behaviour
was not only profoundly disturbing to the patients you
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Dialogue Issue 3, 2016
abused but also to the physician and public members of
this Committee. There is little to say other than we, the
profession and the public condemn your behaviour in
the strongest terms.
Your revocation will demonstrate that the profession
cannot and will not tolerate such egregious behaviour
from its members.
You have brought shame not only to yourself but also
to the profession as a whole. There is no place in our
profession for a physician who abuses their patients for
self-gratification. You will now leave this hearing room
as a disgraced physician.
DR. Eleazar Humberto Noriega
Practice Location: No Practice Address; Formerly
Toronto
Practice Area: Pediatrics
Hearing Information: Allegations Denied, Contested Hearing (9 days); Decision Appealed
On November 3, 2014, the Discipline Committee
found that Dr. Noriega committed acts of professional
misconduct, in that he has engaged in sexual impropriety with a patient and he has engaged in conduct or
an act or omission relevant to the practice of medicine
that, having regard to all the circumstances, would
reasonably be regarded by members as disgraceful,
dishonourable or unprofessional.
The Committee found that Dr. Noriega inappropriately rubbed the clitoris of a teenage female patient
during a medical appointment at a teen health clinic
in 1979.
Ms X, a teenager at the time, had been Dr. Noriega’s
patient at the clinic for approximately one year. She
had seen him regularly over that period of time and
had developed a trusting therapeutic relationship with
him. At her last appointment with Dr. Noriega, while
she was alone with him in the examination room,
he had stimulated her clitoris with his fingers over a
period of several minutes, causing her to experience
an orgasm. She felt embarrassed and ashamed, she
resolved never to return to the teen health clinic, and