FEBRUARY 28, 2004
VOLUME 1 NO. 4
 

Convicted colleague-killer Abraham Cooper is a doctor no more

For years, appeals prevented the Alberta College from revoking his license to practise. Finally they have

Dr Doug Snider, 59, of Fairview, a town of 3,300 in Alberta's Peace River region, disappeared May 5, 1999 after telling his wife that he was going to a meeting at Dr Abraham Cooper's office. The purpose was to discuss a lawsuit that Dr Cooper, 64, was bringing against him and two other doctors. That was the last anyone saw of Dr Snider.

The case riveted Albertans, especially when a massive search failed to turn up the body and large amounts of blood were found at the meeting place. Dr Cooper was arrested May 27, 1999 after police searched his car at an Edmonton airport and found blood in the trunk.

"It has many of the elements of a classic thriller," says Scott Fitzpatrick, publisher of the Fairview Post, the community's weekly newspaper. Dr Snider's body has never been found and Dr Cooper insists he is innocent. He also maintains Dr Snider is alive.

'Wha' Happened?'
"It caught everyone off guard," says Mr Fitzpatrick, who has lived in Fairview all his life and knew both doctors. Although many residents were aware of problems between the two, "you just don't think that one doctor you know is going to do fatal injury to another doctor."

At the trial, the prosecutor told the court that the FP had called Dr Snider to his office on a false pretence and forced him to sign an admission that he had been involved in a conspiracy to revoke Dr Cooper's hospital privileges. Dr Cooper was said to have disposed of the corpse before flying from Edmonton to Florida for a medical conference.

The defence argued that Dr Snider staged his own death and framed his arch-rival. To back the claim they produced some truckers who testified that they thought they saw Dr Snider at a truck stop in Golden, BC. The court thought not and Dr Cooper was convicted of manslaughter in October 2000 and given a 10-year sentence.

He appealed and was turned down by the Alberta Court of Appeal. Undeterred, he took the case all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. The country's final court of appeal ruled against him just last August.

Once the case was finally settled, a three-member investigating committee of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Albert (CPSA) reviewed the case and in December recommended disciplinary action to the College Council. "The conviction of manslaughter is a criminal offence and is obviously viewed by the Council as conduct unbecoming a member of the medical profession," said Dr Bob Burns, the CPSA Registrar.

In January, Dr Cooper was removed from the Alberta Medical Register when he did not appeal within a 30-day period. Medical licensing authorities in North America and around the world are being notified of his status.

When can we expect to see the movie? Fitzpatrick doesn't think it will be anytime soon, because "it's too ambiguous." He also says the case, which resulted in a "media circus," was far from being the town's most newsworthy event. "We're always making headlines. Last May, they discovered mad cow disease for the first time in North America around here."

Abraham Cooper was given 32 months credit for pretrial custody, his statutory release date is Sept 1, 2005.

 

 

back to top of page

 

 

 

 
 
© Parkhurst Publishing Privacy Statement
Legal Terms of Use
Site created by Spin Design T.