Sanjeev Sirpal pleads not guilty to sexual assault in Nova Scotia court

The doctor who spurred a review of the cross-province licensing system in the Atlantic region pleaded not guilty in a Nova Scotia court Monday to sexually assaulting a patient earlier this year.

Sanjeev Sirpal’s lawyer Stan MacDonald entered the plea on his behalf at the courthouse in Amherst, N.S. Dr. Sirpal, 39, who lives in Terrebonne, Que., was not present at the hearing.

A young woman, whom The Globe and Mail is referring to by her initials, MW, because her identity is protected by a publication ban, told police that Dr. Sirpal sexually assaulted her at the emergency room at the Cumberland Regional Health Care Centre on Jan. 14. In an interview, she said she called an ambulance to take her to the hospital that night because of excruciating pain that she later learned was a tumour on her spine.