Cross-examination begins in Jeffrey Sloka sexual assault trial

A former Kitchener neurologist charged with sexual assault began answering questions from the Crown on Tuesday morning.

Jeffrey Sloka faces 50 counts of sexual assault from alleged incidents at his private office at the Kaufman Building at Grand River Hospital between January 2010 and July 2017.

• TIMELINE: Kitchener neurologist faces 50 counts of sexual assault

Previously during the trial, court heard Sloka allegedly asked female patients, including some teenagers, to take off their clothes for physical and skin exams, and touched their breasts and genitals.

Following three weeks of questioning from the defence, going over each and every allegation against Sloka, Crown attorney Sidney McLean began cross-examination Tuesday.

McLean began by asking Sloka about the diagnostic procedure for Neurofibromatosis type 1 – a genetic disorder that can cause seizures.

Court heard about a list of criteria used to diagnose a patient, of which a patient needs to experience two items for a possible diagnosis.

Sloka explained that some of the criteria points involve skin abnormalities that could be detected from a skin exam.

The Crown asked about one specific patient who alleges Sloka had her get completely naked for a skin exam. The patient alleged Sloka closely observed her skin while she was standing up, and also had her lie on a table.

Sloka said that “skin criteria are found at a higher frequency” than some of the other criteria on the list, which is why he would conduct those tests.

The Crown referenced its previous expert witness, who had testified that genetic testing was a more accurate way to detect the disorder.

Sloka said he used to prefer clinical examinations, including skin exams, to diagnose, but said that changed around 2015 when he grew to prefer genetic tests.

“At some point, I moved to genetic testing rather than examining patients,” Sloka testified. “I’m not quite clear when I knew what the accuracy of testing was, I’m not certain, but that became my approach.”

MEDICAL GOWN USE

On Tuesday afternoon, the Crown questioned Sloka about his use of medical gowns during neurological exams.

“Do you have an independent memory of what patients did or did not get into a gown?” the Crown asked Sloka.

“No,” he responded.

The Crown referenced past testimony from its expert witness, who previously stated at an initial assessment, she’d have a patient get into a gown undressed to their underwear with the gown open to the back.

She had testified that it helps facilitate the exam, and also adds privacy for the patient.

“As part of that, it’s important that the gown be open to the back. Do you agree with that?” The Crown asked Sloka.

He agreed.

“It wouldn’t be appropriate, for example, for the gown to be open to the front?” The Cown then asked.

Again, Sloka agreed, however he highlighted that he believes there are some instances when other doctors might have patients wear gowns that open to the front - including some cardiac or breast exams.

“That’s just not the way I did it,” he said.

Sloka said during his time at Grand River Hospital, he only encountered one type of gown - one that ties in the back.

The Crown then projected an imagine of a gown onto a screen in the courtroom, which was described as having a tie that wrapped around a patient’s waist, which is different from the gown Sloka had previously described.

The judge spoke up, saying he couldn’t clearly see what was represented in the image. He asked the Crown if they had a physical example of the gown, to which the Crown said no.

“Is it possible there were more than two gowns at Grand River Hospital?” the Crown asked Sloka.

“I only remember one style,” he said.

Sloka then answered questions about when he would have patients remove their underwear for exams. He said in his memory, he would not ask a patient to remove their underwear if he was only conducting a neurological exam.

“But is it possible they could have their underwear off?” the Crown asked.

“It wouldn’t be through my instructions if it was just a neurological exam,” Sloka responded.

The Crown asked again: “So is it possible that their underwear could be off?”

“I guess, but I don’t know how that would happen,” Sloka responded.

Cross examination is scheduled to continue Wednesday.