A former doctor who has a history of allegations of sexual abuse against him has had his court case postponed until the end of March.

Elliot Rappaport, 53, is pleading not guilty to two counts of sexual assault and two counts of forcible confinement stemming from a 20-year period in the 1980s and 90s.

Current charges

The current charges stem from the experiences of two female former clients who were seeing him for anxiety and sexual issues.

They say he would ask them to take their clothes off, get onto the examining table and he would tie them up with rope and gag them so they could not scream. He then instructed them to try and fend off his attempts at touching them.

He told them the purpose was to quell their anxieties and fears.

Older complaints

Four patients filed a complaint with the College of Physicians in 1994. The College said Rappaport's techniques were not based on any recognized or known science. His psychiatrist testified in his defense, arguing that Rappaport was simply trying to help his patients. But the College's disciplinary committee believed he was fulfilling his own fantasies.

Rappaport pleaded guilty to all counts, and was suspended for four months and fined $1600. He resumed his practice at the Clinique Medicale St-Henri on St-Jacques Street West. But in 1999, he became the target of a $158,000 lawsuit after he gave an erroneous diagnosis of AIDS to a patient, a case which would later be settled out of court.

Rappaport resigned from the College of Physicians in 2002, and has not practiced medicine since. He sold his shares in the clinic in 2004.

In 2008, two of the former patients who had filed the original complaints to the College decided to take their complaint to police, which led to the new accusations now faced by Rappaport.

His lawyer, Gerald La Haye, said he was waiting for the prosecution to disclose all the evidence, and refused to comment further. Prosecutor Nathalie Fafard said other alleged victims came forward, but so far, no other charges are expected to be laid against Rappaport.

The former doctor, who lives in Westmount, could not be reached for comments.

With files from Stephane Giroux