'It was like being groped,' woman tells medical hearing

Two Summerside women have told a board of inquiry that a doctor grabbed their breasts during routine examinations last year.

'I respected him.' Witness

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of P.E.I. board of inquiry is hearing evidence into allegations that Dr. Douglas Ian Cameron committed professional misconduct.

"It was like being groped," the first witness testified on Tuesday. The identities of both women are being protected by a publication ban.

"I just felt uncomfortable and embarrassed. I don't know how to put it into words."

The first woman testified she visited Cameron last June to have her medications adjusted and to ask for a routine mammogram. She toldthe three-member board of inquiry the doctor suddenly grabbed her by both breasts and twisted. She told college lawyer Gordon Mackay that she had trusted Cameron and was shocked.

She said the doctor left red welts on her breasts, which she later showed her husband.

Accuser sent card of apology

Under cross-examination byCameron's lawyer, John Mitchell, the woman admitted she was a regular user of the narcotic oxycocet. She testified that in the past she had lost her temper at Cameron for refusing to give her the drug and once, shesaid, she had sent him an apology card.

The second woman testified she saw Cameron last April for a sore throat. She testified that Cameron suddenly grabbed her nipples and then said, "I thought I saw a lump."

The woman broke down into tears on the stand.

"It was such as shock" she said. "I respected him."

Cameron is expected to testify in his own defence before the hearing wraps up.

Licence suspended

Cameron has had his licence suspended pending the result of the inquiry.

The Summerside doctor has a previous conviction from the early 1990s for sexually assaulting female patients. The college restored his medical licence in 1996 under strict conditions.

Alleged violations of those conditions, including having a chaperone present during examinations of female patients, are also being investigated by the board of inquiry.