Patients face surgery delays after neurosurgeon charged with killing wife

CTV Toronto: Patients left without doctor Patients are left without a doctor to perform surgery after Dr. Shamji was charged with his wife’s murder. Sean Leathong reports.

The patients of a Toronto neurosurgeon who has been charged with murdering his wife are facing surgery delays and an uncertain future now that their doctor is out of “the picture.”

Mohammed Shamji, a world-renowned neurosurgeon working at Toronto Western Hospital, had been saving his patients from a life of extreme pain, with many waiting years to undergo his specialized surgery.

One of them is 31-year-old Lindsay Wilson, who has been living with excruciating pain for two years. Wilson was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a genetic disorder that causes, among other things, very weak joints. Shamji is said to be the one surgeon in Canada who could treat it.

Wilson had been hoping to have Shamji operate on her neck and they’d been aiming for a May 2017 date for surgery, but now that is up in the air.

Wilson says she went into shock on Friday, after hearing that Shamji, a father of three, had been arrested and charged with first-degree murder in the death of his wife, family doctor Elana Fric Shamji. Her body was found on a roadway in Vaughan, Ont. the day before.

“Oh my God, I can’t believe this has happened, no, this is the wrong person,” Wilson said she initially thought.

Wilson, who works as a PhD student in the same hospital as Shamji, says she’s not sure how much longer she can wait. She describes her situation as “desperate.”

“(Shamji) was the light at the end of my tunnel and now it’s gone,” Wilson said.

Shamji was scheduled to perform surgery on Monday, for 21-year-old Erika Crawford, another patient suffering from EDS.

The 21-year-old is bedridden and too sick to speak with reporters, but her parents, Darren and Michelle Crawford told CTV Toronto they were excited that their daughter was finally on the cusp of getting care for her severe illness.

“Everything was in line, and we had the trust, he was compassionate, he explained everything in layman terms that we understood,” Michelle Crawford told CTV Toronto.

“Now that this doctor isn’t in the picture anymore, we don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Darren Crawford.

Wife was in abusive relationship: sources

Meanwhile, sources close to the investigation told CTV Toronto’s Austin Delaney that Shamji had a history of domestic violence.

According to sources, friends of Fric Shamji have reportedly told investigators that violence in the home dates back to the beginning of their 12-year marriage.

Sources said police were called after a volatile incident while the couple was living in Ottawa, where Shamji had been going to medical school.

Sources also say that Fric Shamji was trying to flee her husband at the time of her death. She reportedly told colleagues last week that she was filing for divorce.

Fric Shamji leaves behind three young children as their father remains in jail, awaiting his next court appearance.

With files from CTV Toronto