He sexually abused vulnerable patients, forged medical records to cover it up and pressured patients to drop their complaints against him. For this, Burlington family doctor Sharif Tadros will never practice medicine again.

Tadros, who admitted to his conduct at the outset of the first day of his professional disciplinary hearing, didn’t show up to receive his penalty on Wednesday. The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) prosecutor, Carolyn Silver, read out an agreed statement of facts outlining how over a 20-year period he groomed three female patients, two of whom suffered from depression and anxiety, and had sex with them.

“Dr. Tadros operated in the most insidious manner, luring his patients into sexual activity in his office — a place which should have been a safe haven. He seduced them with compliments, special attention and promises of extra care,” Silver said. “Dr. Tadros’ abuse of these vulnerable patients was a most disgraceful breach of the most fundamental tenets of the profession.”

Tadros has been ordered to pay $48,180 for therapy for his three patients and $31,510 to the College to cover the cost of his hearing.

All details in the following account are based on the agreed statement of facts submitted to the CPSO by both Tadros’ lawyer and the College prosecutor.

Tadros started the relationships by inviting the complainants to his office after-hours or on weekends for special treatment. There he would touch and kiss them, then have sex, often following up with a complimentary post-coital Botox injection.

The relationships lasted one, six and 18 years and involved regular trysts at the office, in hotel rooms, and in the patients’ own homes.

Tadros would regularly call and text his patients, asking them to “wear something sexy” or “wear heels” to their next appointment. He complimented one patient on her smell and offered another a job as his secretary.

In one case, when his patient had doubts about having sex with her doctor, Tadros reassured her, saying he “was not her doctor, but rather a botox ‘injectionist.’ ”

When the husband of one of his victims overheard a phone call between them, the patient panicked and wrote Tadros an email saying: “Oh my god, I can’t believe what’s happening!”

“If he goes to the college about any story true or not I am finished,” Tadros responded. “I would lose everything. I would rather die.”

The husband confronted Tadros about the affair and Tadros denied it, claiming they were “friends, no more, no less,” according to an email submitted to the College.

“We were having a conversation over the phone and it was pure fun. She even invited my wife,” the email read. “NOTHING HAPPENEDED AND WILL NEVER HAPPEN TO DISHONOR YOU OR UR FAMILY (sic).”

Tadros then offered “to go out for a drink and talk about it.”

After the three women complained to the College, Tadros repeatedly lied to investigators, even going so far as to forge medical records to make it appear one of them was never his patient, according to the agreed statement of facts.

He pressured the two others to write to the College and recant their allegations. When one of them emailed the College a letter claiming Tadros had never been her physician, she made sure the College knew it had been composed under duress, writing: “Please see attached, the biggest lie I have ever told in my life!”

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The College imposed an escalating series of sanctions on Tadros, starting out by requiring him to have another health care professional in the room when treating female patients. When he was caught breaking that order, Tadros was restricted from seeing female patients altogether; Silver said he “flouted” this order as well.

The agreed statement of facts adds that Tadros “crumpled up and ripped” the sign issued to him by the College to post in his office informing patients that he can’t treat women. Last November, his licence was suspended altogether pending this week’s disciplinary hearing.

The experience has “been an endless nightmare,” wrote the husband of one of Tadros’ victims, in an impact statement submitted to the discipline committee.

“Twenty years of being a patient and a victim of lies and betrayal. This man entered my home on many occasions to sexually abuse my wife while I was working,” wrote the husband, who cannot be identified due to patient confidentiality. “Never reinstate this man as a doctor. (He) doesn’t deserve to treat patients, males and especially females ever again under no circumstances.”

Tadros’ lawyer, Mark Veneziano, did not contest the penalty, nor argue for leniency, leaving the prosecutor Silver with the final word: “the extent of Dr. Tadros’ lies and deception to the college is shocking and brings the entire profession into disrepute.”