But what the media failed to mention was that Vernacchia had also been busted for two sexual assaults committed in November 1982 at his clinic.
One earned him three months in prison, but the second case, in which he inserted his penis into a female patient's bum and vagina, ended up getting him a 15 month prison term.
Here's one description:
This is not her first exam with Dr. Vernacchia but this is the first time he used a sheet.
The doctor begins the exam with a gloved hand into the vagina and supports the abdomen.
He removes his hand and begins moving back and forth, she felt his body touching hers.
She cannot move for a long time. When he stops, he tells her not to move. He looks for another cream, returns and puts his finger into her rectum and says: "If you feel pain, you tell me."
"I screamed: It hurts."
He re-entered the vagina, returning to the back-and-forth motion.
He pulls out tells her not to move, takes Kleenex, wipes the vagina and makes her cough. At this point, he seems nervous.
She gets up, gets dressed and leaves. She arrives home at 5:45 p.m.. Her house is 10 minutes from the office. She tells her husband what happened and goes immediately to hospital to see another doctor. She meets Dr. Sylvie Yannire-Jetté, which is a gynecological examination with vaginal swab.
Tests performed the presence of live sperm.
Vernacchi testified that this was impossible because he had a vasectomy but the address he provided for that procedure was not a medical facility at the date he gave, so the judge dismissed that as proof.
His lawyer (future separatist MNA) Serge Menard argued that Vernacchia should be transferred to another region and allowed to continue practice rather than going to prison.
Court details here.
Vernacchi was permitted to practice medicine again some time after his release.
Réal Ménard, not Serge Ménard, is mayor of the Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough.
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