- Friday, April 26, 2024
By: Keerthi Mohan
A consultant cardiologist at Lewisham Hospital in south London molested an aspiring medical student by conducting unnecessary examinations in 2013, a tribunal heard on Thursday (21).
Dr Sumit Basu is accused of holding an 18-year-old woman’s breasts during four separate consultations over a period of eight months.
The patient had gone to see Dr Basu after suffering from high blood pressure, irregular heartbeats and feeling of nausea.
At the time the female patient assumed the examinations were routine. But she reported the doctor to the General Medical Council when she realised her treatment was inappropriate after gaining a better knowledge of anatomy during her studies.
The patient said: “I remember the first appointment I questioned whether to remove the top and the bra and he said ‘yes’. The second, third and fourth, it was what I was to do. I didn’t think to flag it up to the nurse and I assumed it was just normal, stupidly.
“I go over the fourth appointment in my head a lot. I’ve blocked stuff out. I trusted him, I thought it must be relevant if the doctor is doing it, there must be a reason for it.
“That was my perception at the time… I was not confident then, I’m still not really confident now. An abdominal examination doesn’t require someone putting two fingers inside your vagina.”
Basu denies sexually motivated misconduct and claims the examinations were “perfectly proper”.
Dr Basu was earlier cleared of sexually assaulting three women during medical examinations.
In 2017, Basu was accused of assaulting the women between 2006 and 2014 in his role as a senior consultant cardiologist at Lewisham Hospital. All three claimed he had touched their naked breasts, and two said he carried out internal examinations.
At the time, he described the allegations as “devastating.”
Basu worked at the Royal Brompton Hospital in Uxbridge and the Heatherwood Hospital in Ascot, Berkshire, before he started working at the Lewisham Hospital in February 2004.
The hearing continues.
