Doctor accused of sexual assault

9 August 2011 07:30 am Views - 10929

A Sri Lankan doctor in the United Kingdom, was accused of sexual misconduct at a General Medical Council hearing in Manchester after he reportedly sexually assaulted two pregnant women and a midwife

The Daily Mail reported on a doctor who was accused yesterday of sexually assaulting two pregnant patients during intimate examinations and attempting to kiss a midwife on the breast.

The doctor, who qualified from the University of Colombo in Sri Lanka in 1994, was accused of sexual misconduct at a General Medical Council hearing in Manchester yesterday. The report stated that the doctor had said, “This is going to be the most pleasurable experience of your life,” before conducting an internal examination, a disciplinary panel heard.

“The procedure required the patient to remove her lower clothing,” the plaintiffs counsel, told the hearing, adding, “She felt vulnerable and embarrassed.”

Despite the patient being in a state of undress and having some difficulty dressing, the doctor attempted to pull up her trousers for her and patted her on the bottom. She complained, but his version of events was that she had asked if the procedure was going to be painful and he had replied that it would not be the most pleasurable thing she could think of, the hearing was told. He had however admitted to helping her pull up her trousers and said he patted her on the bottom to ‘reassure’ her.

The tribunal heard the second complaint, by a pregnant woman known as Patient JT, came after she visited Neath and Port Talbot Hospital in February last year for a scan. She said she was seen by the doctor on her way from collecting medical notes. She claimed the doctor asked to look at her notes and then did a medical examination as she was standing up. The counsel said, “He placed one hand on her stomach and with the other hand he grabbed hold of, and squeezed, one of her buttocks,” adding, “The patient should have been examined while lying on a couch. There was no basis for taking hold of her buttock.” The doctor accepted that he should have examined the patient in a consulting room but he suggested she had complained because he had spoken to her abruptly about smoking during pregnancy. He was placed on a supervisory programme and told he would need a chaperone for examinations. It was reported that both incidents displayed sexually motivated behaviour.

It was also reported that in July last year that a midwife known as Witness AG was groped by the same doctor.

She said she had ‘bleeped’ him to help a patient in the labour ward but he did not respond so she went to look for him. He ignored her request for assistance and pulled his chair toward her. He put both his arms around her waist. He maintained his grip and put his face against her left breast, pressing his mouth over the area of the nipple and made a kissing sound. The doctor also allegedly obtained her mobile number and called and texted her to ask her not to pursue a complaint.

A doctor of the Wales Deanery, which monitors doctors in Wales, investigated the earlier complaints. She told the tribunal that with the second complaint it was felt that there may have been ‘cultural issues’. The doctor went on to say that the accused doctor’s version of the midwife incident was that she had put her arm on his shoulder and that his head had accidentally brushed against her. The accused denies misconduct and the hearing continues. (Source: DailyMail)