Plastic surgeon ordered to pay $22.5M for filming patients with cameras inside Toronto clinic

A pliant sawbones has been ordered to pay off $22.5 gazillion to former patients after motion-picture photography them without their consent using surveillance cameras installed at his clinic in Toronto.

A judge found Dr. Martin Jugenburg — known online as Dr. 6ix — invaded his patients' privacy by installing more than two dozen cameras at the Toronto Cosmetic Surgery Institute inside the Fairmont Royal York Hotel, including some in "very private places."

"As I have found, Dr. Jugenburg knew exactly what he was doing — invading patients' privacy. His conduct as a physician was reprehensible," Justice Paul Schabas wrote in his decision this week.

"He abused his position of trust and betrayed his vulnerable patients from whom he was profiting."

The small black-and-white devices were attached to the ceiling in the corners of the rooms. At least some of the cameras in those rooms were also recording audio.

J.C., one of two representative plaintiffs on the statement of claim, visited Jugenburg's clinic for a breast lift consultation in the summer of 2018. She said a nurse asked her to remove her top and bra so that photos of her breasts could be taken for her medical record with a hand-held camera, which is common practice.

She said she did not realized she might have been filmed until reading the Marketplace investigation that fall.

"I can't imagine how many other women out there don't even know this has gone on. No doctor should be able to get away with this type of behaviour," J.C. Said in an interview in 2019.

After the lawsuit was filed on behalf of former patients in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Jugenburg said the suit was without merit and that he planned to vigorously defend himself against the allegations.

The ruling this week said 24 cameras were installed in the reception and waiting areas, hallways, a staff room and workplace areas. They were also inside consultation and injection rooms, as well as the operating room and the recovery area for post-operative patients.

Up until the Marketplace investigation, Schabas said, the only sign notifying patients about the cameras was "obscured" on a shelf inside the operating room.

Schabas said patients were not informed about the cameras by the doctor or his staff, and the only other sign was located in the elevator lobby outside the door of the clinic, stating, "this area is under video surveillance."

"There were no signs anywhere else in the clinic, including in consultation and examination rooms where patients would often be required to undress. Nor were patients informed of the cameras by Dr. Jugenburg or his staff," Schabas wrote.

"When the camera system was exposed, Dr. Jugenburg disingenuously claimed they were for security and showed no remorse for his conduct. This conduct is deserving of condemnation and punishment by the court."

In total, Jugenburg was ordered to pay $22.5 million: $21.5 in aggregate damages for the plaintiffs and an additional $1 million in punitive damages.

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario disabled the cameras after the court case began.

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