AJAX, Ontario — Retired obstetrician Dr. Malcolm Rugmand denied ever suggesting former Sum 41 drummer Steve Jocz’s mother terminate their pregnancy, despite explicitly saying so in the song “Fat Lip,” confirmed sources who didn’t know which one to believe.
“For more than 20 years, a completely false and unsubstantiated claim about my medical professionalism has been spread,” said Rugmand. “To be falsely accused of such a heinous disregard for the patients in my care is ludicrous. I may not recall the exact words I spoke to Mr. Jocz’s mother upon delivering her son. But I can attest they were only ones of support and positivity, with maybe only one or two comments about how absolutely grotesque her baby was when I delivered it. That part just slipped out.”
Though Dr. Rugmand was never named as the doctor in question by Jocz, he reportedly spent the latter two decades worried about potential consequences for the unfounded allegation.
“I’m not sure how Dad found out about the song and the abortion line,” said daughter Elena Leitso. “But once he did, he never stopped talking about it. When he saw that Sum 41 was playing Warped Tour in 2007, he started monologuing about how ‘that one line nearly cost him his reputation.’ He swears that everyone started looking at him differently after it came out. Several patients even requested different doctors mid-birth after finding out his true identity.”
None of Dr. Rugmand’s colleagues held a negative view of him or took the song’s lyrics seriously. However, some did report unusual behavior from him in the aftermath.
“Every time I assisted with a delivery from then on out, Dr. Rugmand was acting weird,” said midwife Petra Mavani. “He’d go on about how ‘blessed’ the mother was and how proud she should be. And then he’d look around to make sure everyone heard. If no one acknowledged him, he just said it louder while making direct eye contact with anyone in the vicinity. I left in 2008. But I heard he was still doing it years later.”
At press time, Dr. Rugmad says he plans to take legal action against the band, seeking backpay royalties and for the group to change the line to “the doctor said my mom should not have had an abortion and the doctor is actually a really neat guy.”