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Sudbury doctor charged with child porn released on bail

Ian MacDonald to live with his father in Belleville under strict conditions
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Nephrologist Dr. Ian MacDonald, 48, is charged with seven counts of accessing child pornography and two counts of possessing child pornography. He is a nephrologist at Health Sciences North, though he has been suspended since being charged. (File)

Editor’s note: The child pornography charges against Sudbury nephrologist Ian MacDonald were withdrawn by the Crown on Oct. 7, 2020 after Justice Heather-Ann Mendes ruled in September that search warrants issued following the seizure and subsequent search of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 Health Sciences North physician facing child pornography charges was granted bail today.

Nephrologist Dr. Ian MacDonald, 48, is charged with seven counts of accessing child pornography and two counts of possessing child pornography. He appeared in court and was released on $2,500 bail. His father, Ronald MacDonald, is acting as surety. MacDonald will live at his father's home in Belleville under a strict set of conditions.

MacDonald sat quietly throughout the bail hearing, wearing jeans and a grey long-sleeved shirt.

Justice of the Peace Gary McMahon maintained a publication ban on evidence in the case.

MacDonald was represented by his attorney Terry Waltenbury at the bail hearing, however, going forward, it is expected he will be represented by Michael Lacy.

HSN has suspended MacDonald's privileges until completion of legal proceedings.

MacDonald was arrested May 15 by Greater Sudbury Police Service after HSN staff contacted them over concerns about activity on a computer in the hospital, suspecting child pornography has 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 in the nephrology department.

MacDonald has an extensive resume in health care.

He has 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. 

He's also the co-founder and chief medical officer of Unboxed Health, an app he developed that lets people assess their blood pressure levels and provide that information to their health-care provider.

He is chair of the nephrology section for the Ontario Medical Association, medical lead for the Ontario Renal Network (covering the NE LHIN geography), clinical trial investigator for Health Sciences North Research Institute, assistant professor and clinical preceptor at Northern Ontario School of Medicine and a clinical trial investigator at Medicor Research Inc.

MacDonald's conditions are: 

-He must reside with his surety, his father, who lives in Belleville.
-No children under the age of 18 can reside or spend the night at this residence.
-His passport must be handed to Greater Sudbury Police Service, and he can't reapply for a passport or any other travel documents.
-He cannot contact, in any way, directly or indirectly, four people including Mark Hartman, the senior vice-president, patient experience and digital transformation, and Dominic Giroux, the hospital's CEO.
-He cannot be within 100 metres of any of those people, where they live, work or any place they frequent except in the matter of a court appearance or when travelling on Ramsey Lake Road or Paris Street.
-He is not to go to Health Sciences North except in the event of a medical emergency involving himself, his spouse or his children.
-He is not to seek or continue any paid or unpaid activity that involves him being in a position of trust with any persons under the age of 18.
-He shall not attend any playground or public park, beach or swimming pool, any high school or elementary school, daycare centre or other place where children under the age of 18 are likely to be present.
-He shall not be in the presence of anyone under age 18 unless under the direct supervision of a family member or guardian of that child, including his own children.
-He shall not possess any weapons, and any weapons he possesses must be surrendered to Greater Sudbury Police Service.
-He is not to possess or access any computer device, including smart phones equipped with internet access, laptops, desktop computers, tablets or video game consoles capable of accessing the internet.
-He may possess a “flip phone” that isn't able to access the internet and isn't equipped with a camera or video capability.
-He shall not possess any computer storage devices such as external hard drives, USB sticks. memory cards or any other device capable of storing data.
-He shall not maintain or use an account with any internet service provider.

MacDonald will return to court on May 29 at 9:30 a.m. in Courtroom B.

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