Women who waited years to face a prominent Brampton physician who they allege assaulted them were left frustrated and angry Tuesday as Ontario’s medical regulator withdrew its allegations of sexual abuse.

Dr. Brian Thicke, 90, instead pleaded no contest at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario to allegations of professional misconduct with respect to 14 female patients and one female nurse, and agreed never to reapply for a medical licence in any jurisdiction.

“I’m absolutely disappointed,” said Lisa Fruitman, whose complaint that Thicke allegedly groped her breasts during two physical exams kick-started the case against Thicke. “We need to change the system. The system is broken.”

Fruitman was one of three complainants in the case, along with patient Miryana Golubovich and nurse Cheryl Thorpe. All three women requested that a standard publication ban be removed from their identities. Fruitman first shared her story with the Toronto Star in 2017, after which more than a dozen other complainants came forward to the college.

Thicke’s plea means that he does not admit guilt, but does not contest the facts presented Tuesday by the college to a discipline panel and accepts that the panel can find them correct. The plea also means that a lengthy discipline hearing was scrapped and complainants would not have to testify, though Golubovich said she had been ready to take the stand.

“I wanted to tell my story, look the panel in the eyes and tell them everything he had done to me,” she told reporters. “I think this is all a joke.”

The facts to which Thicke pleaded no contest included that, in many of the 14 female patients’ cases, he failed to explain to patients the rationale for a breast exam, failed to obtain informed consent before proceeding with the exam, did not provide privacy to undress or proper draping or a gown, according to a statement of uncontested facts filed at the hearing Tuesday.

“The misconduct in this case is serious, it’s varied, it’s extensive,” college prosecutor Elisabeth Widner told a five-member discipline panel. “Removing Dr. Thicke from the profession and making sure he stays out in all jurisdictions is the maximum protection that can be afforded to the public.”

In Golubovich’s case in particular, Thicke did not contest that while examining her heart with a stethoscope, he unbuttoned two buttons on her shirt, displaced her bra, and “failed to show sensitivity by allowing his hand to rest on her nipple and breast without any explanation,” according to the statement of uncontested facts.

Thicke, father of late actor Alan Thicke and grandfather of singer Robin Thicke, has already not been practising since 2018. The college originally alleged that he had sexually abused the patients by groping their breasts and/or buttocks, but those allegations were withdrawn Tuesday in the face of Thicke’s plea and his promise never to practise medicine again.

Thicke also did not contest that he slid his hand into the uniform of nurse Cheryl Thorpe and squeezed her breast while she was bottle-feeding a baby at Peel Memorial Hospital in the 1970s. Thorpe had immediately reported the incident at the time to the head nurse and the hospital’s director of nursing, but believes nothing ever came of her complaint.

“To simply withdraw (the sexual abuse allegations) is a real slap in the face to the brave individuals who came forward,” Thorpe, who now lives in British Columbia, told the Star on Tuesday.

Thicke further did not contest that he told one 15- or 16-year-old patient “aren’t you a healthy young lady” while conducting a Pap test; that he told more than one patient he was going to examine their “boobies”; and called a teenage patient a “fat ass” while examining a bump on her buttocks.

“Your actions were deeply unworthy of a physician. You violated the most basic expectations the public has of physicians and you have brought the profession into disrepute,” the discipline panel told Thicke in a public reprimand. “The panel deeply regrets that you were able to continue with this reprehensible behaviour for so many decades.”

Lisa Fruitman said the college’s discipline process only added to her trauma.

“I felt the college was actually intimidating, everything was uncomfortable, I was made to feel like they didn’t believe me all the way through,” she told reporters afterward.

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Fruitman’s visits to Thicke’s office took place in the 1990s, when she needed to go for exams for a private pilot’s licence. She said she decided to file a complaint against Thicke with the college in 2015 after speaking with her daughter about the importance of speaking up for oneself.

The college’s complaints committee, which operates behind closed doors, initially dismissed her complaint, prompting her to go to a civilian appeal board, which ordered the college to review the complaint.

Although disappointed with the outcome of Tuesday’s hearing, she said she was hopeful that it will spark change in the system and lead to the creation of an independent body to probe sexual abuse in the health professions.