‘Dr. 6ix’ tells regulator he now realizes he acted against patient’s interest
Posted June 19, 2020 10:29 am.
Last Updated June 19, 2020 10:34 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
TORONTO — A Toronto plastic surgeon says he now realizes he acted against a patient’s best interest in allowing a television crew to film her breast augmentation surgery despite her objections.
Dr. Martin Jugenburg is being cross-examined before the disciplinary committee of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario on several allegations that he violated patients’ privacy.
Earlier this week, Jugenburg said through his lawyer that he admits to professional misconduct but disputes some of the allegations.
Testifying by video conference today, the doctor said he understands in hindsight that his behaviour caused a patient’s breast and nipple to be shown for just over a second during a Global TV segment in 2016.
Jugenburg said the patient, who cannot be identified under a publication ban, declined to be filmed by the TV crew but agreed to let them shoot footage of the doctor during the procedure.
The surgeon said he should have taken greater steps to ensure the patient was not captured on film during the segment, which focused on his use of the social media platform Snapchat to promote his business.
Jugenburg said, however, that he did not intentionally put his own interests before those of the patient, and denied pressuring her to consent to having the crew in the operating room.
An agreed statement of fact presented to the committee earlier this week said Jugenburg also had video cameras installed throughout the downtown Toronto clinic — including inside the operating and examination rooms — over a period of two years, during which thousands of patients would have been recorded.
It said there were only two signs mentioning the cameras, one of which was not easily visible to patients. Jugenburg could access the recordings through an app on his phone, it said.
The document also said the surgeon had mistakenly posted photos of a patient’s bare breasts on his Instagram and Snapchat accounts without her consent.
Jugenburg is also facing a class-action lawsuit in connection with the video cameras at the clinic.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on June 19, 2020.
The Canadian Press
