Listen to this article
Estimated 4 minutes
The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.
A plastic surgeon has been ordered to pay $22.5 million to former patients after filming 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.”
In an emailed statement, Jugenburg said he is “reviewing the court’s judgement with my counsel and will provide a full response in due course.”
“In the meantime, I want to be clear: I have previously acknowledged that I should have done more to ensure the privacy of my patients was properly respected and protected. That acknowledgement stands,” Jugenburg said.
“The well-being, comfort, and privacy of my patients are my highest priorities. I understand that trust, once tested, must be earned through action and my team remains fully committed to upholding the highest standards of care.”
The class-action lawsuit was filed after a CBC Marketplace investigation in 2018 found security cameras in examination rooms at Jugenburg’s clinic while reporting undercover for a story on breast implants. During their visit, Marketplace producers spotted security cameras in a closed-door examination room where patients are asked to undress, as well as in the waiting area.
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 realize 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.
