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An Ontario judge has ordered an acupuncturist who posed as a neurosurgeon to pay $300,000 in compensation to a patient he injured, an “outrageous” case that highlights the ongoing challenge of policing fake doctors.

Authorities knew for at least two years that Alan Canon was masquerading as a doctor, yet he continued to do so with apparent impunity, the ruling by Justice Susan Healey reveals.

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In that time, he caused a raging infection that left Vito Servello with life-altering pain and anxiety, and allegedly sexually assaulted two female patients who thought he was a surgeon and osteopathic physician.

He was neither. Canon was licensed only as a practitioner of acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine and was actually facing charges from that profession’s regulator for posing as a doctor at the time he saw Servello.

The Pepsico Canada vice president said he met with officials at the College of Physicians and Surgeons within a few months of his September 2015 appointment. Though the college has the power to prosecute people who pretend to be doctors, little appears to have been done.