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In her hospital bed recovering from a hysterectomy, one of the first things a 40-year-old patient told her husband was that an anesthesiologist had forced her to perform oral sex, a Superior Court judge heard Wednesday.

Testifying at the sexual assault trial of Toronto anesthesiologist George Doodnaught, the victim’s husband recalled details of their conversation in February 2010, just hours after his wife’s surgery.

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“[She said], ‘Something happened in there… He was playing with my breasts [and] he inserted his penis in my mouth,’ ” the witness testified. A publication ban covers the identities of Mr. Doodnaught’s alleged victims.

“I was kind of shocked,” the witness said.

Mr. Doodnaught, who was employed by North York General for about three decades, stands accused of sexually assaulting 21 patients between 2006 and 2010. The victims range in age from 25 to 75.

All while they were vulnerable and virtually incapable of moving

Working behind a three-foot-high sheet that divided the sterile parts of the operating room from the non-sterile, Mr. Doodnaught administered drugs to put patients into a state of conscious sedation, while doctors performed surgeries ranging from hysterectomies to knee and hip replacements. His actions concealed by the sheet, Mr. Doodnaught variously fondled patients’ breasts, kissed them on the lips or forced them to perform oral sex, prosecutors allege — “all while they were vulnerable and virtually incapable of moving.”