A gynecologist has admitted to helping women sell their eggs in the United States, charging tens of thousands of dollars himself, a practice banned in the country.
“I deeply regret […] I had a feeling it wasn’t a good idea and I should have listened to my instincts,” said Dr.r Faez Faruqi before the Disciplinary Council of the Order of Physicians on Tuesday.
In Canada, only egg donations are permitted. Even if it is legal in the United States, the Quebec Professional Code prohibits performing an act “incompatible with the honor, dignity or exercise of one’s profession” which would thus deviate from the rules here.
Recognizing his lack of judgment, he faces a fine of $15,000 and a three-month disbarment if he returns to practice in Quebec, since he now lives in Ontario.
Advertising prohibited
The trustee of the College of Physicians first criticizes him for having allowed an advertisement concerning paid egg donations to be accessible via a link located on the website of the Gynesys Medical Clinic, of which he was the owner. The link was to the American CNY clinic.
The latter denied any employment link with the CNY clinic before the Disciplinary Council. His biography as a specialist, however, appears on the latter’s website.
In 2018, the Dr Faruqi agreed to follow four women wanting to sell their eggs in the United States to this fertility clinic. He explained that it was women who came to him with this project.
“It was not something I planned, but rather did backwards,” he said.
He said women who were eager to receive their payment from the American clinic flooded his office with calls. This is why he agreed to pay them, even though he made “no profit” from the sale of the eggs.
The trustee accuses him of having billed sums of US$9,000 for two patients and US$15,000 for two others. The amount “included a sum of US$3,000 to pay an egg donor,” according to the complaint.
In 2020, he also referred a patient to the CNY clinic “so that she could receive assisted reproduction services, even though he recognized that her age was too advanced for her to be able to obtain these services in Quebec”.
Dissuading doctors
For the trustee, the most important objective in the sanction to be given to the Dr Faruqi is to dissuade doctors from acting like him.
“It is a topical, important issue, and the message of deterrence must be essential,” argued Me Jacques Prévost, adding that it was the first time that such a file had arisen at the Order.
The Disciplinary Council has taken the case under advisement and must render its decision within three months.
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