Psychiatrist 'Treated' Patients for Homosexuality by Having Gay Sex With Them

Melvyn Iscove, a Toronto psychiatrist who has dubbed homosexuality a curable "sexual disorder," has been found guilty by a medical board of sexually abusing two of his male patients, the Toronto Star reports.

Among his crimes: coercing two patients to masturbate alongside him and exchanging oral sex on different occasions during therapy sessions. He also once had anal intercourse with one of them in his office.

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario's discipline committee describes the 72-year-old doctor as someone who had "special interest in the treatment of patients with problems related to homosexuality."

Victims said they were not emotionally or sexually attracted to Dr. Iscove but believed that the sexual activity was part of his prescribed therapy "to cure them of homosexuality by engaging in the acts, rather than fantasizing about them," the committee's decision to suspend Iscove's license reads.

The World Health Organization removed homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses in 1992. In 2015 Ontario became the first Canadian province to ban the use of "conversion therapy" on minors. Many of the allegations against Iscove date back to the 1990s and early 2000s, all of which he has denied. The patients who alleged misconduct by Iscove were adults at the time, but in any case, sex with patients is against medical ethics.

During the hearing, Iscove maintained that homosexuality was an illness, citing theories of a 1950s psychoanalyst Edmund Bergler in his defense, according to the Star. He quoted Berger's writings, saying, "All attempts to prove homosexuality to be anything but an illness had in my opinion failed" and "there are no happy homosexuals."

One patient said he was referred to Iscove for treatment for "anxiety associated with fears he was gay," when he was in his 20s, the committee's report noted. He testified that although he saw Iscove as a father figure, the doctor would ask him about fantasies involving the two of them.

Afterward, Iscove removed his erect penis from his pants, according to the patient. "This progressed on later occasions to mutual masturbation and oral sex," the panel writes. "Patient A estimated that such activity occurred on between 10 and 20 occasions with oral sex occurring on one-third of the episodes."

The other accuser came to Iscove when he was 18 years old after his parents recommended he see Iscove for depression and anxiety. He testified he had no concerns about his sexuality or homosexual desires.

He saidIscove read him material by Bergler throughout his therapy and was frequently asked about his sexual fantasies. "Fantasies that involved heterosexual relationships were identified by Dr. Iscove as being a way of denying his homosexuality," the panel notes. "Patient B firmly believed that Dr. Iscove was attempting to 'cure' his homosexuality."

The committee also found Iscove guilty of breaking doctor-patient boundaries, such as trying to sell personal items to patients and inviting one to an opera rehearsal as his guest.

After the psychiatrist was found guilty of the sexual abuse, his license was immediately suspended. A penalty hearing has yet to be scheduled. In that process, any doctors found to have sex with a patient are automatically stripped of their medical license.

Iscove is still facing another discipline hearing regarding "improper conduct in a public men's washroom," the Star reports.