TORONTO — A respected Georgetown doctor showed eight female patients selfies of his genitalia while sharing a stories of a golf trip, a college of physicians prosecutor alleged Monday. Dr. Nigel Mark Phipps, 57, revealed his cellphone shots to patients in 2014 and 2015 in the course of recounting “a supposedly amusing story about a golf trip with his friends,” college prosecutor Elisabeth Widner told a disciplinary hearing of the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons.
“He tried to portray this as a joke or an illustration of an embarrassing story,” Widner said in her opening remarks.
“He showed these photos on his cellphone … at the conclusion of medical appointments with long-time female patients.”
Phipps rubbed his penis against one patient’s leg during an exam in the fall of 2014, alleged Widner.
“Many saw him for decades and thought highly of him as a physician. Some remain his patients.”
Widner alleged Phipps told one patient “not to say anything” if she received a call from the college, adding, “he put a finger to his lips in a shushing motion and told her to ‘keep it between us.’”
In some instances, he commented on his physical appearance in the shots and indicated he was “well endowed,” said Widner.
“I’ve seen yours now you’ve seen mine,” she quoted Dr. Phipps as saying to one patient.
Phipps, who has been practising since 1985, has pleaded not guilty to the allegations involving his patients and unprofessional conduct with three female staffers. The identities of complainants are covered by a publication ban.
One patient testified that she was “so completely shocked and surprised” when Phipps revealed his selfies that she “kept replaying it in my head in the hours immediately afterwards.
“I was trying to get out of that exam room as soon as possible,” said the 49-year-old woman of the September 2014 incident. She and her two adults daughters are no longer his patients.
Another patient, a retired church minister, wiped away tears as she recalled Phipps showing her two nude shots in September 2014.
“I was shocked because it was just so out of character. This was just a mistake. I remained his patient. I was sure it would never happen again,” said the woman, 69, his patient for 26 years.
“He was a wonderful doctor. I don’t want to change doctors.”
The hearing resumes Tuesday.
By: SAM PAZZANO, TORONTO SUN
Source: cnews.canoe.com
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