Lawyer Suggests Doctor Falsified Insurance Forms

Ben Johnson’s physician, Jamie Astaphan, falsified Ontario health insurance forms to hide his practice of prescribing anabolic steroids and other banned substances, a lawyer suggested Tuesday during the Canadian government’s inquiry into drug use by athletes.

Astaphan’s attorney, David Sookram, reacted angrily to the allegation by Julian Porter, a lawyer for Ontario’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, and also denied suggestions by two athletes that Astaphan treated them with a steroid used in the medication of horses.

In his cross-examination Tuesday of one of the athletes, former Canadian sprinter Tim Bethune, Sookram asked sarcastically, “When you were on this steroid allegedly meant for animals, did you at any time feel the need to get down on all fours and eat grass?”

Sookram was reprimanded by the inquiry’s commissioner, Charles Dubin.

Outside the hearing room, Sookram fumed: “I’ve heard it said this started out as the Dubin inquiry. For a long time it was the Johnson inquiry. Now it’s an Astaphan inquiry.”

Throughout the inquiry, which began Jan. 11, there have been questions about the billing methods Astaphan used when he allegedly administered banned drugs.

Porter questioned whether Astaphan was telling the truth about his 1985 Ontario health insurance claims.

“If the OHIP records reveal a diagnosis from Dec. 19 on--for the next six visits--of tendinitis of the ankle, or sprained ankle, this would not be (because you suffered from it), would it?” Porter asked.

“No,” Bethune replied.

Astaphan, who lives on the Caribbean island of St. Kitts, is expected to testify in late April or early May.