Doctor ‘constantly fearful’ after encounter with patient turned into years-long nightmare

A Winnipeg doctor’s minutes-long interaction with an emergency department patient made him the target of a public harassment campaign that left him fearing for his safety for more than two years, a court has heard.

“All of this has taken a substantial, mental, physical and emotional toll on me and my family,” the doctor wrote in a victim impact statement read out at a sentencing hearing Monday for 53-year-old Thomas Gallos.

Gallos pleaded guilty to mischief and criminal harassment and was sentenced to nine months in jail.

Court heard Gallos and the doctor met just once, when Gallos was brought to St. Boniface Hospital in August 2022 under the Mental Health Act for an involuntary medical examination.

“As a result of some incidents that were happening” subsequent to the examination, the doctor obtained a protection order against Gallos in September 2024, Crown attorney Julia Negrea told provincial court Judge Anne Krahn.

“Over the past two years, Mr. Gallos has made violent threats about me both online and in graffiti placed in multiple locations throughout the hospital where I work.”

Between June 2024 and March 2025, Gallos visited the hospital and surrounding grounds at least seven times, defacing signs and walls with messages identifying the doctor by name and using jail slang labeling him a sex offender.

“I won’t forget, I won’t stop,” read one message in part.

Gallos was arrested on April 26 after security video captured him vandalizing hospital property a month earlier.

“Over the past two years, Mr. Gallos has made violent threats about me both online and in graffiti placed in multiple locations throughout the hospital where I work,” the doctor wrote in his victim impact statement. “These actions have left me constantly fearful for my safety and the safety of my loved ones. I have had to take steps I never would have imagined would be necessary,” including installing security cameras at his home, establishing a school safety plan for his children, changing his driving routines and reducing his social media presence.

“These actions have left me constantly fearful for my safety and the safety of my loved ones.”

“Having to explain this situation to co-workers as new graffiti appeared repeatedly has been taxing,” he said. “These feelings of anxiety and vulnerability continue to impact me to this day.”

The harassment by Gallos comes at a time when health-care providers are facing “unprecedented” levels of violence in the workplace, Negrea said.

“Doctors working in emergency departments deal with unstable people all of the time, but this criminal conduct was so ongoing, so relentless, that even with some understanding and compassion of the issues, it’s clear that (the doctor) was frightened and overwhelmed having to come into work every day… not knowing when he would be assailed by those messages.”

Gallos “has a significantly different recollection of the events (and) ultimately felt he wasn’t treated properly,” said defence lawyer Sam Green. Gallos “made attempts” to take his concerns to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba and the Manitoba Human Rights Commission, but when that didn’t work out, “took matters into his own hands.”

“These feelings of anxiety and vulnerability continue to impact me to this day.”

“He understands now that was a very poor decision,” Green said.

Gallos has already served the equivalent of just over eight months in custody. Green recommended Krahn sentence him to time served so that he can start focusing on his rehabilitation.

“While Mr. Gallos does struggle to admit a history of mental health issues, he’s done well in the past and there are supports that can be put in place to assist him moving forward,” Green said.

Given a chance to address court, Gallos maintained he had been assaulted by the doctor.

“I think your perception of what happened there is wrong, given all that I have heard,” Krahn said.

Krahn sentenced Gallos to three years probation, two of them under supervision, and ordered that he have no contact with the doctor and not attend St. Boniface Hospital, except in the case of an emergency.

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.

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