Get a load of this. He was doing background checks even for the TTC
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1115167462268_11/?hub=CTVNewsAt11
He calls himself a doctor. But James Sears is no doctor. He was stripped of his license to practice more than a decade ago after being criminally convicted of sexually assaulting female patients.
Ontario's College of Physicians and Surgeons took away his license and struck him from the register, but they've done nothing to stop Sears from calling himself "doctor" and offering medical services since.
After he lost his medical license in 1994, "Dr." James Sears hung out a shingle in a strip mall in Toronto. He started a company called The Second Opinion and marketed himself as North America's top medical investigator.
His website offers such services as medical background checks for companies wanting to verify the health history of job candidates, or assess the claims of current employees.
Sears says he looks at records that might reveal undisclosed medical conditions that could result in numerous sick days and low productivity down the road.
He boasts that his service will be as "commonplace as checking references on a resume" in the future. And he dismisses concerns that he is misleading clients by calling himself a "doctor."
"Anyone can review a medical file and give an opinion, says Sears. "Lack of a license is a non-issue. I don't tell them unless they ask, and most people don't ask."
Sears boasts that his clients include the Toronto Transit Commission and Canadian Tire. The TTC confirms that it used Sears on a few occasions four or five years ago.
A victims' advocate who sat through Sears' disciplinary hearing is horrified at the thought of a man convicted of sexual assault looking at womens' medical histories.
"It's an absolute violation," says Sharon Danley. "He's got all this information to go after her if he chooses to and what safeguards are in place for her?"
Companies using Sears' services may not be aware of his history. There's no easy way to find out if a doctor has lost his medical license. A primary search of the College of Physicians and Surgeons site turns up no information about Sears' history. A more intensive search produces results of the disciplinary hearings in 1994, but you have to be persistent to unearth the information.
The Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons rejects suggestions that it should make it easy for the public by publishing a list of names of doctors, like Sears, who have lost their licenses for disciplinary reasons.
"I don't know if there are privacy concerns, it's certainly not for us to do," says College Registrar Dr. Rocco Gerace.
According to Dr. Gerace, even though it is illegal for someone to call themselves a doctor and offer medical services without a license, it's not the College's job to investigate unless there is a complaint.
"Our authority is to regulate doctors," says Gerace. Since Sears is no longer a doctor, college officials say he falls outside of their mandate. "We can get an injunction and tell them that they have to stop using it ... but we don't have any jurisdiction over them."
When asked by Whistleblower why the College has no jurisdiction to monitor individuals whose licenses it has lifted, Gerace replied: "If we've taken away their licenses, they're not members and so we have no jurisdiction over those individuals."
Victims' advocate Sharon Danley doesn't buy the College's explanation for inaction.
"When are they going to say we are going to take responsibility here? They are self-governing, which is a privilege," says Danley.
"Dr." James Sears maintains he's doing absolutely nothing wrong. Sears says even bad publicity is good for business. And he boasts that his biggest problem is the fact he's got too many people contacting him.
"I have an easy way of getting rid of them when they e-mail me. I just hit on them and they get lost," says Sears.
