Committee: Discipline
Decision Date: 23 Aug 2016
Summary:
On August 23, 2016, the Discipline Committee of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario found that Dr. Donato Anthony Ruggiero committed an act of professional misconduct in that he engaged in sexual impropriety with a patient by placing his penis in the patient’s vagina during a medical appointment in his office in approximately 1986.
Dr. Ruggiero received his certificate of registration in 1973. He had a solo practice in Toronto at the relevant time.
Patient A attended Dr. Ruggiero’s office for abdominal pain in or about 1986, when she was in her late teens. The Committee found that Patient A had three appointments with Dr. Ruggiero.
On Patient A’s last visit with Dr. Ruggiero, she was asked to remove her clothing from the waist down and to lie on the examination table and place her feet in the stirrups.
The Committee rejected Dr. Ruggiero’s evidence that he performed a pelvic examination at Patient A’s last visit, and that she mistook the examination for sexual impropriety.
The Committee found that when Dr. Ruggiero asked Patient A to undress from the waist down and lie down on the examination table, it was not his intention to perform a medically-indicated pelvic examination. Rather, his true intent was to take advantage and exploit a vulnerable patient by inserting his penis into her vagina for self- gratification.
The Committee found that Dr. Ruggiero was being deceptive when he provided College investigators, the Committee, and Patient A’s mother with various explanations for why he would have performed a pelvic examination. These explanations did not have a factual basis and were merely attempts to provide a legitimate explanation for why he would have asked Patient A to undress from the waist down and lie on the examination table for a purported pelvic examination.
Dr. Ruggiero spontaneously described Patient A to a College investigator as having been dressed “very, very seductively” the day of the assault, and he recalled her appearance. Dr. Ruggiero also testified that Patient A was not a virgin when he saw her. The Committee found that Dr. Ruggiero perceived Patient A in a sexualized manner.
The Committee found that Patient A raised her head to see what was going on during the appointment, and saw Dr. Ruggiero’s pants unzipped and his penis with a condom on it going in and out of her vagina, while hearing him moaning.
The Committee did not find Dr. Ruggiero to be a credible witness. There were numerous inconsistencies in his testimony. The Committee found Patient A to be a credible witness and her testimony to be reliable.
In his conduct towards Patient A, Dr. Ruggiero committed an act of professional misconduct, in that he engaged in sexual impropriety with a patient.
PENALTY
On October 14, 2016, the Discipline Committee ordered and directed that:
- The Registrar revoke Dr. Ruggiero’s certificate of registration, effective immediately;
- Dr. Ruggiero appear before the panel to be reprimanded within sixty (60) days
of this Order becoming final; and
- Dr. Ruggiero pay costs to the College in the amount of $25,000.00 within thirty (30) days of the date of this Order becoming final.
APPEAL
On October 31, 2016, Dr. Ruggiero appealed the decisions on both liability and penalty of the Discipline Committee dated August 23, 2016 and October 14, 2016 to the Divisional Court of the Superior Court of Justice.
On May 1, 2017, Dr. Ruggiero abandoned his appeal to the Divisional Court.
Decision: Download Full Decision (PDF)
Hearing Date(s): Third Party Records Motions: August 31, 2015; Hearing: January 4-6, February 1, 2016 Penalty Hearing : October 14, 2016