A Regina doctor has been found guilty by a College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan disciplinary committee of professional misconduct with staff and patients, including engaging in sexual impropriety with two teenage patients.Dr. Imafidon Izekor, 42, who was an owner of and practised at two Northgate Medical Centre locations (on Avonhurst Drive and at Northgate Mall), was found guilty of two counts of engaging in sexual impropriety and failing to maintain appropriate professional boundaries with a 16-year-old patient and a 19-year-old patient, according to a decision from a college disciplinary hearing committee dated Aug. 7.Izekor was also found guilty of disrespectful and unprofessional communication with his clinic employees. The college, which is the province’s medical regulatory body, initially filed seven charges against Izekor in March 2022. Two of the charges were later withdrawn.Following a nine-day disciplinary hearing in May of this year, he was found guilty on two of the charges relating to his patients.He was found not guilty on two other charges — one of which involved allegations he had engaged in sexual impropriety and failed to maintain appropriate professional boundaries with a female patient in October 2018, and another which alleged he had engaged in sexual and unethical behaviour with an employee, including sexually harassing and assaulting the employee.The remaining charge included several distinct allegations of “inappropriate and unethical conduct” with employees, including “failing to maintain appropriate professional boundaries” and “failing to treat employees with dignity and respect.” The college found him guilty on some of those allegations, and not guilty on others.Flirted with patient: decisionThe first charge of sexual impropriety relates to a Nov. 1, 2018, incident with a 19-year-old patient who came to the clinic to request a sick note, according to the committee’ decision. It was the patient’s first time seeing Izekor.The patient, who testified at the disciplinary hearing, said as he was examining her, he said, “Are you sure you’re sick? You look great to me,” in what the decision says was “a flirtatious manner.”He proceeded to tell her she “had an attractive personality and that he would like to be around her personality,” the decision says.Izekor also asked her where she worked, how much she was paid and what her rent costs, and questioned her relationships and finances, asking “Why do you work so much? You don’t have a man in your life to pay for your things?” the decision says.The patient also described him looking her up and down, and said as she was leaving, he “told her to relax and take care of herself,” biting his lip “in a sexual way,” the decision says.He also asked if he could call her to plan a followup appointment and asked for her personal number, which he later called from his personal phone. In a response to her complaint, Izekor said although he didn’t believe the patient was sick, he didn’t record that in his records, according to the decision.However, he said after a “lot of back and forth,” he agreed to give her a sick note because she was “very brash,” the decision says.’Shocked,’ ‘shamed’: 16-year-old patientThe second charge stemmed from a Nov. 2, 2018, incident involving a then 16-year-old patient during an appointment. According to decisions’ summary of her testimony, she had originally seen Izekor in 2017 regarding an eye condition, and had been sent for blood work.During a 2018 followup appointment, Izekor asked her what the age limit was for the guys she would date. He insisted “age is just a number” and went on to say men her age were “predators” and “hunters,” according to the decision. Izekor, who is originally from Nigeria, also told her that in his country, “men buy women everything,” the decision says.He also told the patient “‘guys have needs,” and went on to make “noises and movements to imitate sex, moaning and grunting,” and “rocked his pelvis back and forth,” according to the decision.The patient said Izekor told her she should have dinner with him if she was ever feeling lonely, and suggested he could pick her up outside her house so she wouldn’t have to tell her mother.The patient says Izekor told her she could get her blood test results from his house if she wanted to. It also states during her appointment he asked for her personal phone number, which he then called from his personal number. The patient described feeling “shocked,” “shamed” and “fearful” before she left the doctor’s office, according to the decision.In his testimony, Izekor said his questions to the patient were “medically necessary to determine the cause of her jaundice, including questions about sexual activity and drug use.”He said he needed to ask about her sexual activity and drug use because it was possible HIV, hepatitis B or hepatitis C could have been the cause of her condition.However, the patient said Izekor did not discuss her test results with her, nor did he discuss his jaundice diagnosis or its possible causes.Izekor also denied he had asked her out for dinner, suggested she could receive test results at his house, told her “guys have needs” or made sexual motions with his hips, according to the decision.Quit 3 times: employeeThe third charge against Izekor came from a former employee, who said she had worked at the Avonhurst and Northgate clinics as a medical receptionist from 2017 to 2018. She said “either before or after” she started her employment at the clinics, Izekor invited her to discuss work at his house. She testified he showed her around the house and led her to his basement, where they sat down on a couch to talk, according to the decision.Izekor “told her men her age do not know how to take care of women and that she needed an older man,” the decision says.He then touched her leg and led her into a basement bedroom, where he engaged in sexual intercourse with her despite her protests, it says.She said afterwards, he handed her money and said, saying something similar to, “You helped me and I will help you,” according to the decision.Izekor made advances toward her at the clinic, including inviting her into his office for a “meeting,” where he would proceed to touch her inappropriately and try to hug and kiss her, the decision says.He would also watch her from a surveillance camera over her workstation and comment on how she looked, it says.The employee said her mental and physical health deteriorated after she began working for Izekor, including weight loss, hair loss and stomach problems. When she spoke to Izekor about her mental health after she called in sick one day, he provided her a prescription for depression and anxiety, despite not having been her doctor or conducting a proper medical exam, the decision states.She tried to quit three times, the decision says. The first two, he convinced her to come back. The third time, he requested they go for lunch to discuss work. During the lunch, Izekor continued his sexual advances, so she did not return to work for the clinic, according to the decision.Izekor “denied inviting her to his home or being there alone with her,” the decision says, and “absolutely denied sexual contact with [her] at his home.” He also “described her as disruptive in the workplace and paranoid,” according to the decision.Doctor presented as ‘dissembling’: decisionIn describing the credibility of the witnesses, the disciplinary committee’s decision described the first patient’s testimony as given “in a straightforward, firm, confident and convincing manner,” noting “she was unshaken in cross-examination.”The decision said on balance, the committee was satisfied her testimony “was both credible and reliable.”The second patient “presented as an articulate, confident, poised young woman, who was also “unshaken by rigorous cross-examination,” the decision said.By contrast, the decision says Izekor “presented as arrogant, disdainful and self-satisfied,” and “by turns, he presented as self-pitying, victimized, exasperated and dissembling.”Izekor’s hearing also heard testimony from others who worked at his clinics and described “heated exchanges” between the doctor and staff.The disciplinary committee’s decision says the evidence of disrespectful communication with staff by Izekor was “compelling.” The decision acknowledges no workplace is perfect, but says yelling at employees, “particularly in the presence of or within hearing distance of patients and other staff, is not only inappropriate, it is unprofessional, unbecoming conduct” for a doctor. A penalty hearing is expected to take place next month.
Disciplinary committee finds Regina doctor guilty of sexual impropriety with patients
