A family doctor from Edmonton has been found guilty of committing sexual abuse under the Health Professions Act (HPA) by his professional organization. A hearing tribunal panel for the College of Physicians & Surgeons of Alberta (CPSA) found that Dr. Emadalden Alshigagi failed to maintain professional conduct by engaging in sexual intercourse with a patient on multiple occasions. Additionally it found that he failed to maintain appropriate boundaries with a patient. He prescribed medications known for risk of abuse while the patient was receiving similar prescriptions from other physicians and sent the prescriptions to multiple pharmacies. According to the tribunal’s written decision, the incidents happened between February 2019 to February 2023. The tribunal heard from several witnesses, including the patient and Alshigagi. He admitted to exchanging personal text messages and money with a patient as well as hugging and kissing, but denied attempting to have intercourse with a patient at his clinic or having intercourse with her on multiple occasions while he was her physician. A doctor at the Addiction Recovery Centre Detox testified that Alshigagi’s patient had disclosed the sexual relationship between herself and Alshigagi when she admitted herself to the centre. The doctor made a complaint to the CPSA after the patient’s disclosure. The woman who had the relationship with Alshigagi testified, noting multiple instances where the two had sexual relations. She said Alshigagi would also bring food and prescriptions to her apartment and give her money when she asked for it. Alshigagi also admitted to prescribing several different medications to the woman, including benzodiazepines and opioids, despite the fact that the patient had a known active substance use disorder. The document shows Alshigagi had ordered urine tests for the patient that came back positive for fentanyl, but those results were never documented in his records. The patient testified that she would ask Alshigagi for prescriptions and tell him what pharmacy to send the prescriptions to and he would comply. The patient said since becoming sober she decided to disclose the relationship with Alshigagi because she believes he continued to supply her with the prescriptions to keep her sick and make her easier to control. Prior to the complaint, the CPSA had ordered Alshigagi to take a formal prescribing course because of concerns about his prescribing of controlled substances. While there was no dispute that the woman was a patient of Alshigagi’s and that the two had a sexual relationship, there was dispute about whether or not the relationship had occurred while she was still a patient of Alshigagi’s. In its decision, the tribunal says it ultimately found the woman’s version of the events to be more credible, and found inconsistencies in Alshigagi’s testimony. CPSA says the immediate suspension of Alshigagi’s practice permit was ordered, as is required for patients found guilty of sexual abuse under the HPA. Following the tribunal’s decision, Alshigagi obtained a court order from the Alberta Court of King’s Bench to stay the suspension pending the tribunal’s sanction decision, which is expected to be presented at a later date. Conditions that had been placed on Alshigagi’s permit during the investigation of the allegations, including a CPSA-approved chaperone, will remain in place while Alshigagi practices under the court-ordered stay.
