An anesthesiologist was sentenced to 10 years in prison Tuesday for what a judge called "reprehensible" sexual assaults on 21 sedated women during surgeries – violations that left his victims with lasting emotional damage. 
 
 Dr. George Doodnaught, 65, exploited the extraordinarily high degree of trust the patients placed in him, Ontario Superior Court Justice David McCombs said. 
 
 "The profound psychological impact of the physical violations has been compounded by the victims' deep feelings of betrayal – that these offences were committed during surgery, by a medical doctor, in an operating room, a place of ultimate vulnerability and trust," McCombs said in sentencing Doodnaught. 
 
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 "His conduct did enormous damage and was reprehensible in the extreme." 
 
 Many of Doodnaught's victims were in the courtroom and wiped tears from their eyes as the sentence was read. Their victim impact statements at an earlier sentencing hearing told of "debilitating" feelings of anger and bitterness, shame, panic attacks, loss of self-worth, distrust of doctors and an inability to form intimate relationships, McCombs said. 
 
 "In several cases [Doodnaught] compounded his victims' sense of violation and humiliation by manipulating them to try to make them believe they were somehow responsible – that they had initiated sexual contact or had engaged in sexually explicit conversations," the judge said. 
 
 Though Doodnaught was sentenced to 10 years, he may not spend much time in custody. Doodnaught intends to appeal his convictions, and the Court of Appeal for Ontario is set to hear an application Wednesday to let him out on bail pending the appeal. 
 
 He was on bail throughout the trial, so his victims stayed in the courtroom after the sentence was read to see the handcuffs slapped on and the disgraced doctor led out of the room. 
 
 One of his victims – the one who sparked the investigation – clapped as he was led away. Outside court, she said the prospect of more court hearings as Doodnaught proceeds with his appeal is "devastating," but she will keep attending and fighting to be heard. 
 
 "At this point, I've come this far and I need to show my children how to do the right thing and how to stand up [against] what's wrong and this is so wrong on so many levels and I need to do that for them," she said with her husband by her side. 
 
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 The woman, who can't be identified because of a publication ban, had a mass on several organs when she went in for a hysterectomy in 2010. During the surgery, Doodnaught fondled her breasts, kissed her and put his penis in her mouth, the court found. 
 
 When she was in the recovery room, Doodnaught leaned in close to her and said, "As soon as you were out, the first thing you reached for was my … [penis]," the court found. 
 
 Doodnaught declined the opportunity to make a statement before he was sentenced, which the victim said was telling. 
 
 "Never once during this whole process, even when I was on the stand, when I was giving my victim impact statement, at any time, did he look at me," she said outside court. "He's a coward." 
 
 Doodnaught's lawyer, Brian Greenspan, said his client was "disappointed" with the sentence. "He continues to enjoy widespread support not only with his family but amongst his colleagues, patients," he said outside court. 
 
 The judge noted that the defence filed 49 letters of support from Doodnaught's family, former colleagues, patients and friends. 
 
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 "They are uniformly shocked that the man they know has been found to have committed these crimes," McCombs said. 
 
 "His family members and supporters describe him as a modest, caring and loving person and a supportive and generous mentor, who took great pride in his work as an anesthesiologist and most of all, in his family." 
 
 When Doodnaught was convicted in November, McCombs found the doctor relied on his three decades of operating-room experience to avoid detection as he kissed women, fondled their breasts and put his penis in their mouth or hand. 
 
 Doodnaught was known as a "touchy-feely" doctor, often stroking a patient's cheek or hair to soothe them during surgery, so the judge found his physical proximity during surgery didn't arouse suspicion with other staff even as he sexually assaulted the women while concealed only by a surgical drape. 
 
 It is a unique set of circumstances in Canadian law, McCombs said Tuesday. 
 
 "There are no reported Canadian cases in which an anesthesiologist sexually assaulted sedated patients in an operating room during surgery," he said. 
 
 All but one of the assaults took place at the North York General Hospital in Toronto. They became more frequent until Doodnaught was caught, with the first six spread over three and a half years and 15 others in the last six months before he was stopped. 
 
 The hospital told Doodnaught to take a leave of absence after the last woman he assaulted went to police. 
 
 His medical licence was suspended, but the College of Physicians and Surgeons still has to hold a disciplinary hearing, which could lead to it being revoked. 
 
 The hospital's chief executive officer has apologized on behalf of the medical facility to all of the victims for the impact Doodnaught's crimes had on their lives. The hospital has since made changes to how it addresses and tracks patient complaints. ||||| Former North York General anesthesiologist Dr George Doodnaught was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years imprisonment for sexually assaulting 21 of his female patients. As Doodnaught, 65, was handcuffed and arrested from court, a few of the women clapped. 
 
 George Doodnaught is shown in a Toronto police handout photo. The anesthesiologist convicted of sexually assaulting 21 sedated women during surgeries has been sentenced to 10 years in prison. ( Photo / Canadian Press ) 
 
 His conduct was “reprehensible in the extreme,” Superior Court Justice David McCombs said in his decision. “It must be condemned in the strongest terms.” In November, Doodnaught was found guilty of sexually assaulting 21 women between the ages of 25 and 75 while they were semi-conscious on the operating table. All but one of the women were undergoing surgeries at North York General Hospital between 2006 and 2010. Doodnaught was a popular anesthesiologist at the hospital for 26 years. 
 
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 The Crown had asked for 12 to 15 years imprisonment during the sentencing hearing earlier this month. The defence suggested eight to 10 years. “I am very happy with the conviction, however I am very disappointed with the sentencing,” said the patient whose complaint launched the criminal investigation. She cannot be identified due to a publication ban. “Ten years, as far as I’m concerned, is insulting.” The judge made his decision based on the law, and the laws need to change, she said. During the trial, her testimony and the reading of her victim impact statement, she says, Doodnaught did not look at her once. “He’s a coward,” she said. 
 
 In his lengthy judgment released in November following the 76-day trial, McCombs found that Doodnaught took advantage of his position in the operating room, concealed behind a sterile screen that separates patients’ upper and lower bodies. Hidden from the doctors and nurses, Doodnaught fondled the breasts of sedated female patients, kissed their mouths and forced them to perform oral sex and masturbation, McCombs found. 
 
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 In his sentencing decision, McCombs noted that in the months before Doodnaught was arrested the assaults escalated. Fifteen of the 21 assaults occurred in the past six months, four in the 10 days before his arrest. Doodnaught’s lawyer, Brian Greenspan, said Doodnaught and his family are disappointed by the convictions. They are appealing the convictions but not the sentence. The notice of appeal filed with the court argues that McCombs erred in finding the testimony of the complainants plausible and “rejected evidence inconsistent with guilt.” That includes the defence submission that it was impossible for Doodnaught to have committed the assaults based on the proximity of operating room staff and the positioning of medical equipment. A bail hearing for Doodnaught’s release pending appeal is scheduled for Wednesday morning at the Court of Appeal. In his sentencing decision, McCombs noted the “great personal courage and dignity” of the victims and their families, and the “profound psychological impact” they suffered. Patients had made three formal sexual assault complaints to North York General Hospital about Doodnaught before a complaint in 2010 sparked a criminal investigation. The hospital’s chief of anesthesiology was aware of the complaints but the senior hospital administration only learned of them after the 2010 complaint was made, McCombs found in his ruling. Serious complaints about staff, including allegations of sexual assault, are now being reported directly to the hospital’s CEO. Doodnaught, whose medical licence is suspended, is set to face a disciplinary hearing with the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons. A date has not yet been set. In the notice of hearing, the College notes that the mandatory penalty for sexually abusing a patient is a revoked licence and public reprimand. While there were only 21 patients involved in the criminal case, the notice of hearing contains allegations that Doodnaught sexually abused 30 patients. One of the alleged sexual assaults dates back to 1992.
– One of his victims clapped as George Doodnaught got led away in handcuffs, and it's hard to blame her: The Toronto anesthesiologist got sentenced to 10 years in prison today for sexually assaulting her and 20 other women during surgery. The victims were "sedated but still aware of their surroundings" during the assaults, reports AFP. The 65-year-old fondled them and forced oral sex on them, among other things. In the recovery room, he would tell the women that they had initiated once the drugs kicked in. “Never once during this whole process, even when I was on the stand, when I was giving my victim impact statement, at any time, did he look at me,” the woman who clapped tells the Globe and Mail. “He’s a coward.” Doodnaught worked at North York General for 26 years, and all but one of the victims had surgery there between 2006 and 2010, reports the Toronto Star. He was often separated from the rest of the medical team with a surgical drape. Though not part of the criminal case, allegations of about 10 other assaults date back to 1992.