Judge convicts Ste. Anne doctor of sexually assaulting five patients Ruling called aspects of testimony "inconsistent, contradictory, or nonsensical" By: Dean Pritchard Posted: 5:50 PM CST Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023

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This article was published 28/11/2023 (1043 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Manitoba doctor has been found guilty of sexually assaulting five patients during the course of medical examinations spanning 16 years.

Arcel Bissonnette, 64, stood trial earlier this year accused of sexually assaulting the women between 2001 and 2017 during medical examinations at the Ste. Anne Hospital and Seine Medical Centre.

Bissonnette’s conduct with all five women “was sexual in nature and without (their) consent,” King’s Bench Justice Sadie Bond said during a brief hearing to deliver her ruling Tuesday afternoon.

Bissonnette, seated in the court gallery beside his wife, showed no change in emotion as Bond delivered one guilty verdict after the other. On the other side of the court gallery, one of two victims who attended the hearing wept audibly.

At trial, the five women testified about examinations that included pelvic exams in which Bissonnette repeatedly inserted and removed his fingers from their vaginas, pelvirectal exams involving the simultaneous insertion of fingers into the rectum and vagina for which Bissonnette provided no explanation or warning, and unnecessary breast exams.

Three of the women alleged they saw or may have seen Bissonnette with an erection during or following the examinations.

In a written statement released shortly after Bond’s ruling, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba described Bissonnette’s actions as “an egregious breach of the trust placed in him as a physician.”

“The harm he has caused these women is reprehensible,” said college registrar Dr. Anna Ziomek.

Bissonnette has not practised medicine since November 2020, when he was first charged by police.

The college “is taking immediate steps toward the permanent cancellation of Dr. Bissonnette’s registration based on the convictions now entered by the court,” Ziomek said.

At trial last July, Bond approved a similar-fact motion that allowed prosecutors to use the evidence of one alleged victim to corroborate the evidence of another.

“The harm he has caused these women is reprehensible.”–Dr. Anna Ziomek

Bissonnette testified and denied any wrongdoing, saying either the examinations did not occur as the victim testified or that the examinations were “medically indicated” and consistent with his training.

“I found that there were aspects of Dr. Bissonnette’s testimony that were inconsistent, contradictory, or nonsensical such that the overall credibility of his testimony was negatively affected,” Bond wrote in 68-page decision made available following the hearing.

Bond rejected Bissonnette’s claim to have a detailed memory of his examination of one victim he saw just once, 20 years ago.

“He testified to specific details of his interaction with (the victim), despite no note to refresh his memory about those details,” Bond said. “It would be reasonable that he could testify to what would have been his usual practice and might be able to infer certain details from the notes he made. But he went further than that. He claimed that he remembered those details, and I do not believe him.”

Bissonnette testified he routinely performed pelvirectal examinations as a screening practice with his female patients, as he was trained to do more than 30 years ago. But Dr. Kimberly Wintemute, a medical expert called by the Crown, testified pelvirectal exams are rarely done in family practice, given the availability of photo imaging.

“It is hard to imagine that a doctor who has practised family medicine for 30 years … and has regularly attended professional-development seminars focused on family medicine during those years would take his guidance for how to conduct a routine physical examination on a female patient from medical rotations in the specialty areas of gynecology or oncology 30 years ago,” Bond said.

“The testimony, in my view, was contrived to explain why he conducted a pelvirectal examination (on one of the victims) when those examinations are not part of the routine practice of family medicine,” she said.

Bond said it was significant that while Bissonnette testified he routinely performed pelvirectal examinations on his female patients, two of the victims told court no such examination was performed on them.

“Dr. Bissonnette’s testimony about his routine conduct of the pelvirectal examination was simply not credible,” Bond said.

At trial, defence lawyers argued the victims didn’t come to believe Bissonnette had done anything criminal until learning he had been charged with sex offences against other women in November 2020, resulting in “inadvertent tainting or modification” of their evidence through a “sexual lens.”

Each victim testified they knew what Bissonnette had done was wrong at the time it occurred and expressed “some sense of validation or vindication” knowing Bissonnette had been charged with sexually assaulting other women, Bond said.

“Clearly, delay in reporting does not undermine a complainant’s credibility,” Bond said. “It is quite understandable that they decided … to come forward only after they became aware that they were not the only ones.”

Bissonnette will return to court Friday when prosecutors will argue his bail should be revoked pending sentencing, for which a date has not been set.

Bissonnette was initially charged in November 2020 with sexually assaulting six patients. More women stepped forward and he was ultimately charged with assaulting 22 patients between 2001 and 2017.

A trial involving six alleged victims late last year ended with all charges stayed after prosecutors said late disclosure in the case left them with no reasonable likelihood of conviction.

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Earlier at that trial, it was revealed the Sainte-Anne Police Department lost key evidence in its investigation of the allegations — its own notebooks.

The alleged victims in that trial have since filed a civil lawsuit against Bissonnette.

Charges involving another alleged victim were stayed in advance of his second trial.

A third trial involving 10 alleged victims is set for February.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca

Dean Pritchard
Courts reporter

Dean Pritchard is courts reporter for the Free Press. He has covered the justice system since 1999, working for the Brandon Sun and Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 2019. Read more about Dean.

Every piece of reporting Dean produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.