Canadian sports doctor Anthony Galea found guilty of professional misconduct
A penalty hearing has been scheduled by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario
A renowned sports doctor who was convicted in the U.S. for importing unapproved and mislabeled drugs, has been found guilty in Canada of professional misconduct.
In a ruling issued on Monday, the discipline committee of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) ruled that Dr. Anthony Galea committed "an act of professional misconduct...[that] would reasonably be regarded by members as disgraceful, dishonourable, or unprofessional."
Galea had previously faced charges related to selling an unapproved drug, conspiring to import an unapproved drug, exporting a drug and smuggling goods into Canada. He avoided prison in the U.S. after pleading guilty in Buffalo, N.Y., in July of 2011 to the mislabeled drug charges.
Famous former clients
Galea was not licensed to practice in the U.S. when he traveled across the border to treat athletes, including professional football and baseball players in several American cities.
Galea's famous former clients included golf superstar Tiger Woods and baseball player Alex Rodriguez.
Athletes often sought him out for platelet-rich plasma therapy, a treatment used to speed healing that involves extracting blood from patients and re-injecting just the plasma.
He became the focus of Canadian and U.S. authorities in 2009, when his assistant, Mary Anne Catalano, was stopped at the border in Buffalo with a small quantity of human growth hormone, Actovegin and vials of foreign homeopathic drugs.
The CPSO says that a penalty hearing has been scheduled for Galea.
With files from The Associated Press