Amir Khadir pleads guilty to 12 offenses and faces 12 months of disbarment
Posted October 28, 2025 9:57 pm.
Amir Khadir’s lawyer, Sibel Ataogul, did everything possible to present mitigating factors to the disciplinary board of the College of Physicians in the hope of obtaining a lesser sanction than the one-year suspension that the trustee is demanding for the infectious disease specialist.
The former co-spokesperson for Québec solidaire admitted his guilt on Tuesday to 12 counts of failing to respect the commitment he made in June 2020 to stop prescribing antibiotics beyond 28 days to treat people with Lyme disease.
The lawyer presented the steps taken by Dr. Khadir to conduct proper research after the College ordered him to cease this practice, which was not supported by prior research.
Amir Khadir recounted how a patient had a very positive reaction following this treatment, to the point of renouncing medical assistance in dying after long suffering.
Dr. Khadir, when he was an MNA, had made the government aware of the need to undertake research and he explained how, after leaving politics, he had taken multiple steps to set up a research protocol and obtain the funding to implement it. Throughout his efforts, he had received the approval of the medical and political communities, but the funding had not come, as Quebec allocated funds for a group of clinics specializing in long COVID and infectious diseases such as Lyme disease, but without an associated research budget.
Amir Khadir admitted before the disciplinary board, chaired by Me Manon Lavoie, that he had given in to haste, continuing to offer antibiotic treatment beyond 28 days outside of a research setting. “I regret not having done things in the right order,” he declared during his testimony. It was, he added a little later, “a lamentable error of judgment.”
Testifying before Dr. Khadir, the College’s deputy trustee, Dr. Steven Lapointe, said he was concerned about a possible recurrence because, according to him, Amir Khadir was more interested in explaining why he had acted in this way rather than expressing regret for having done so.
No patient has filed a complaint against Dr. Khadir. Rather, the complaint follows a professional inspection by the Collège des médecins. Amir Khadir had escaped an initial complaint after his practice was reported to the Collège by two doctors. It was at that time, in June 2020, that he made a commitment to no longer offer antibiotic therapy for Lyme disease for more than 28 days. A professional inspection carried out in Dec. 2023 showed that he continued to do so outside of a research framework conducted according to professional standards.
Amir Khadir faces sanctions ranging from a simple reprimand to a one-year ban from practicing. Dr. Lapointe believes that a 12-month ban is necessary to “send a message” to the profession.
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews
