'I would not have said that to her': Defence continues questioning former neurologist about individual sexual assault allegations

The sexual assault trial of former neurologist Jeffrey Sloka has surpassed two straight weeks of the defence questioning the doctor about all 50 allegations made against him.

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.

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

On Tuesday, defence lawyer David Humphrey walked through patients who visited Sloka presenting with potential multiple sclerosis (MS) symptoms.

The first patient visited the doctor 15 times between 2011 and 2017.

The court heard she had been experiencing dizzy spells and feeling off balance. She was referred to the neurologist to learn more about her symptoms.

At a visit with Sloka in 2011, the then 32-year-old patient alleged he inappropriately touched her breasts during a cardiac exam.

Sloka said he did conduct a cardiac exam on the patient because “a cardiac problem could potentially lead to decreased blood flow to the brain and give a feeling of dizziness.”

However, he said he did not touch her breasts.

Humphrey asked Sloka: “did you perform any type of breast exam?”

“No,” Sloka responded.

Humphrey explained that the patient alleged Sloka put the palm of his hand over one of her breasts and squeezed his fingers around the breast “like a stress ball.”

“She described it as a groping. She said it happened one breast at a time,” Humphrey said. “Did anything like that happen?”

“No,” Sloka replied again.

ANOTHER ALLEGATION

Court heard about more allegations on Tuesday morning.

A 19-year-old patient who had been experiencing vision issues was referred to Sloka in 2015.

The doctor testified that he conducted neurological and cardiac exams on the patient on her initial visit.

Sloka said he did the cardiac exam to rule out any source of potential stroke.

“For patients with a loss of vision, cardiac examination is part of a potential work up,” Sloka said.

The court heard that at one point, the patient had also visited a doctor in the Unites States who had also conducted a cardiac exam on her.

The patient testified Sloka conducted a skin exam on her, but that it took place during a follow up appointment – not during her initial visit. Sloka testified that it would have been during the first appointment, and not at any follow up.

Sloka said he didn’t have records of a skin exam, but said he could have done it because of how she was presenting.

He said that his understanding from medical literature is that “a skin examination can be considered in a patient with loss of vision and that’s to rule out alternative diagnoses.”

He said the patient had previously described two different rashes – eczema and psoriasis.

Court heard about the patient’s allegation that Sloka told her he wanted to do a physical examination and “take a look at a few things including moles, birth marks and skin abnormalities.”

“I wouldn’t have been interested in moles, so I would not have said that to her,” Sloka explained, adding it’s possible he told her that he was looking for anything unusual on the skin or asked her about birth marks.

“That would be part of my usual screening,” Sloka said.

The defence asked Sloka about more allegations made by the patient. She had testified that the skin exam began with Sloka looking at the front of her body, which he said wouldn’t have happened because he always starts at the head.

“She says you touched moles on the inside of her thighs and the side of her torso, from her hip to her breast area. Is that something you would have done?”

“No,” Sloka replied.

The court heard how that patient, and others discussed Tuesday, were presenting with symptoms that could indicate MS.

A doctor expert witness, who testified earlier in the trial, said it’s unusual for a neurologist to see MS patients without consulting with an MS specialist.

Sloka disagreed, saying he and other neurologists would treat MS patients.

The defence walked through several more patient allegations with similar trends on Tuesday.

As of midday on Tuesday, the defence told CTV News there were seven of 50 complainants still left to review.

CANCER CONCERNS

On Tuesday afternoon, the defence moved on to complainants who had visited Sloka with cancer concerns.

One attended an appointment on the evening of March 15. Court heard that her mother attended the appointment with her, which was protocol for evening appointments.

Her symptoms had been flagged as potentially serious, with brain cancer among the list of possibilities.

The patient previously testified that her mother came into Sloka’s office with her, but she had told her mother she did not need to come into the examination room.

Sloka said that he conducted a physical examination on the patient, including cardiac, neurological, abdominal, skin, pelvic and breast exams.

He said that was “to rule out any source of cancer.”

Sloka said it was within his training and his understanding that he should conduct the physical examination.

“In adults, if you find a brain tumour, it’s ten times more likely to be metastatic cancer than it is to be a primary,” Sloka testified.

The defence reviewed the patient’s testimony, in which she said Sloka had not mentioned the breast, skin and pelvic exams with her when they were in the office but instead sought consent in the examination room.

Sloka said that’s incorrect.

“No, I would have listed them as part of my usual approach,” he testified.

Court heard that the patient testified that she did give Sloka consent to perform the exams once they were in the examination room but said he never told her why they were necessary.

The defence asked Sloka if that was the case, and Sloka said no, he would have told her he was looking for lumps or abnormalities that could indicate cancer.

Part of the patient’s testimony described the internal pelvic exam. She testified that Sloka had asked her to “squeeze her muscles” once he had placed his gloved hands into her vagina.

The defence asked: “Are you able to say whether you would have asked her to do that during the examination?”

“No, that is not part of the exam,” Sloka replied.

By the end of Tuesday, the defence had five and a half complainant files left to go through with Sloka on the stand. That will continue Wednesday.

The Crown said cross examination may begin next week.