Doctor commits sexual assault after he was given a 2nd chance

Both of Dr. Martin Gillen's victims were sedated when he violated them. Both victims say they suffered longterm psychological scars. But only one was assaulted after the pain doctor was given a second chance to practise medicine.

"He used his medical skills to sexually violate two vulnerable women, both rendered more incapacitated and vulnerable because of drugs he gave them," read the Ontario college decision that denied Gillen's application for reinstatement in 2010.

Gillen first appearance before the discipline committee was in 1989 for having committed  "a single sexual act performed on an unwilling patient," college documents state.

That "unwilling patient" was a 21-year-old woman who arrived at a Perth, Ont., hospital with her parents in 1986. She was hyperventilating and suffering chest pain. Gillen gave her a sedative and put her in a recovery room after she nodded off. She testified that before she fully awakened, Gillen placed his penis in her hand and ejaculated, according to her testimony in the college's decision.

Gillen denied her allegation. He said that he performed a neurological evaluation called a two-finger hand grip test and that semen found on a tissue was the result of an earlier nocturnal emission.

The committee later noted the incidents weighed heavily on the woman for years. It caused her to distrust doctors so much she delivered her baby at home with a midwife to avoid the hospital, she said.

In a victim impact statement made 20 years after the incident, "she tearfully told the committee that at the time of the incident, she was in a vulnerable position, and felt helpless, powerless and isolated and actually feared for her life at that moment. She said she would not be able to fully erase that feeling from her life."

Police were called to the ER and Gillen was charged criminally, but he was eventually acquitted.

Initially,the college revoked Gillen's registration. He appealed and the sanction was reduced to a nine-month suspension.

He was reinstated to practise medicine in 1991.

Fifteen years after the first incident, a patient who received regular cortisone injections for chronic pain says she grew suspicious of Gillen. At one appointment, she was less sedated than usual and suspected something was wrong.

Gillen subsequently admitted he inserted his fingers into her vagina and anus to "landmark" where the injections should go. He also admitted he may have gotten aroused from doing this.

The patient brought a hidden camera to the following appointment.

"Gillen is clearly seen on videotape sexually aroused prior to doing the vaginal penetration," stated the discipline committee. Whether or not the "landmarking" is medically warranted is irrelevant, it said. "The penetration must be viewed as a means for Dr. Gillen to satisfy himself sexually, not as an aid to the patient's comfort."

Gillen was also captured on tape stroking his exposed penis while he was treating her, according to college documents.

The college revoked Gillen's licence and he pleaded guilty in criminal court to sexual assault, was sentenced to nine months in jail and placed on the sex offender registry for 10 years.

Years after her ordeal, the patient says she was still dealing with a great deal of anxiety and had suffered because of her mistrust of doctors, according to a statement she made at a subsequent reinstatement hearing.

Gillen tried to get his medical licence back in 2010, but the panel turned down his request. "He continues to pose a risk for repeating his sexual deviancy," read the decision. "The public would not be protected and would lose confidence in the profession if he is reinstated."  

Gillen has continued to deny the first incident involving the young woman in the hospital.

"I am not in clinical practice, I have not resumed clinical practice and I do not have a licence to practise medicine," said Gillen in a brief telephone interview. He is now a medical administrator and does quality management of files for a company that performs third-party injury assessments.

He stated that he has no plans to apply for reinstatement of his medical registration.