Editor’s note: The child pornography charges against Sudbury nephrologist Ian MacDonald were withdrawn by the Crown on Oct. 7, 2020 after Justice Heather-Ann Mendes ruled in September that search warrants issued following the seizure and subsequent search of MacDonald’s office computer were facially invalid and that the warrants “exceeded the authority that was intended to be granted.”
A Sudbury physician facing child pornography charges will have the charges against him tested when the case goes to trial in June.
The trial for nephrologist Dr. Ian MacDonald will begin June 22-25, then resume again July 13-17 in Courtroom L.
MacDonald was arrested May 15, 2019, by Greater Sudbury Police Service after staff at Health Sciences North contacted them about concerns regarding activity on a computer in the hospital, suspecting child pornography had been accessed on the device.
The Internet Child Exploitation Unit and Computer Forensic Unit executed search warrants and a forensic investigation was conducted on the computer seized from MacDonald's personal office.
He was charged with seven counts of accessing child pornography and two counts of possessing child pornography. He was released on bail on May 17.**
A court-ordered publication ban has been imposed on evidence in the case.
MacDonald is being represented by Toronto lawyer Michael Lacy.
MacDonald has been suspended from HSN until completion of the legal proceedings. He had been a staff physician in the nephrology department since October 2006, as well as the director of Ian MacDonald Medicine Professional Corporation, according to his Linked In profile.
**An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the date of Dr. Ian MacDonald's bail. That has been corrected.
