Call for doctor to be struck off for harassing young female colleague
- Dignity 4Patients
- Apr 27
- 5 min read
By Sean McCarthaigh - 27.04.2025 - Irish Examiner - {IRELAND] - [Unknown Dr.] The Medical Council has called for a hospital doctor who admitted harassing a young female colleague at Mayo University Hospital (MUH) through repeated, unwanted romantic overtures over a number of years to be struck off.
Counsel for the Medical Council’s chief executive, Hugh McDowell BL, told an inquiry last week that it was recommending that the registration of the former doctor at MUH in Castlebar, Co Mayo, should be cancelled.
Mr McDowell claimed the case represented one of sexual misconduct which arose from “an unrequited attraction which turned into an obsession” and became a lengthy, intense campaign of harassment even after the woman had made complaints about him to both the Medical Council and Gardaí.
However, the doctor’s counsel, Maura McNally SC, accused the regulatory body of using a sledgehammer to crack a nut by seeking the cancellation of her client’s registration.
At the outset of the inquiry, which first opened in April 2024, the doctor had contested seven allegations of professional misconduct in relation to inappropriate behaviour and contact with a female intern and some of her friends.
He was also accused of failing to comply with the requirement to undergo continuous professional development annually over a five-year period. Doctor admitting all the allegations
In a dramatic U-turn, the fitness-to-practice committee of the Medical Council was told on the seventh day of the inquiry last February that the doctor was “holding up his hands” and admitting all the allegations.
Although the doctor cannot be named as a result of a direction by the committee, it is expected the restriction will be lifted at the conclusion of the inquiry as anonymity was only granted on the basis of the presumed innocence of the doctor of the charges. On Friday, Mr McDowell called for the cancellation of the doctor’s registration as the only appropriate sanction for what he claimed was behaviour that represented “a type of sexual misconduct".
He claimed the nature and seriousness of the misconduct was “a very significant attack on the personal and professional integrity” of a young female doctor at the outset of her medical career.
The barrister said the woman’s personal life and that of some of her friends had been seriously invaded and she had been made feel “very unsafe for a period of years".
The doctor now accepts that he repeatedly made inappropriate or unwanted contact with the young female intern, identified only as Witness A, who had worked with him in MUH in 2016.
Evidence was heard that he had persisted with communicating with his colleague, even long after she had left MUH, despite being requested by hospital management in April 2016 that he should not contact or approach her.
The request was made after he had asked the intern to marry him because he was living alone in Ireland and felt depressed. Doctor ignored requests by gardaí
He subsequently ignored instructions by gardaí in May 2019 and Witness A herself not to contact her after it appeared he might have known her whereabouts after she moved. The doctor also admitted to sending inappropriate texts to colleagues of the young doctor in an attempt to contact her.
The inquiry heard the inappropriate and unwanted contact continued at various periods right up until July 2020 when he declared in a text message that he would “die without you".
Mr McDowell said the doctor has engaged in “the most egregious” unwanted calls and texts to Witness A and noted he had accused her of ruining his life.
He said there had been clear objectification of the woman with the doctor trying to access her social media accounts and photos.
The doctor’s misconduct could not be characterised as an isolated incident as it was persistent and with a degree of pre-meditation.
The inquiry heard that the doctor had used 10 different phone numbers in an effort to circumvent the woman’s request that she should not be contacted by him as well as travelling to a pub in Galway in the expectation of meeting her.
Mr McDowell claimed the doctor had engaged in “an abuse of process” after he submitted a complaint to the Medical Council in August 2019 about her in retaliation to one that she had made against him to the regulatory body two months earlier. Woman subjected to rigorous cross-examination He noted the woman had also been subjected to rigorous cross-examination by the doctor’s lawyers before he finally made admissions “at the eleventh hour” and offered an apology.
Mr McDowell said it would send the entirely wrong message to the public if the doctor was allowed to continue to practise.
The inquiry also heard evidence from three other medics who provided character references for the doctor.
Mr McDowell claimed there were stark similarities in the wording of statements provided by the witnesses for which he claimed unsatisfactory explanations had been provided.
The doctor’s own GP, Yousuf Baig, gave evidence via videolink from Karachi that he had diagnosed the doctor with depressive psychosis in 2016.
Dr Baig said the doctor had complained that malicious rumours were being spread about him in Ireland that he was gay and incapable of performing sexual acts.
The witness said the doctor also told him that he was afraid of a girl who had made complaints about him and who claimed that he was her husband.
When pointed out by Mr McDowell that he had been misled by the doctor who was now making admissions about his behaviour, Dr Baig replied: “I don’t think that can be true.” Doctor’s inappropriate behaviour characterised as sexual misconduct Ms McNally claimed the Medical Council’s chief executive was engaging in egregious behaviour in making a “huge leap” to try to characterise the doctor’s inappropriate behaviour as sexual misconduct.
Ms McNally reminded the committee that it had heard evidence about the personal issues suffered by her client and how he was in receipt of treatment for which he would require lifelong medication.
She also claimed he had demonstrated insight, whether it was “belated or not”.
Ms McNally said there were character references which showed he was a highly trusted and highly qualified medical practitioner who was respectful and empathetic to patients.
She said the issues may have arisen from “a misunderstanding of cultures” and at a time when all the doctor’s friends were married and he was living in an isolated rural location.
The inquiry heard the doctor, who has recently worked as a locum, got married last year to a trainee gynaecologist in Pakistan and hopes to work in Australia in future as a family doctor.
Ms McNally said the Medical Council inquiry hung over him “like the sword of Damocles” which prevented him from progressing his career.
The hearing was adjourned until a date to be fixed in the near future.
If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article and were abused in state run medical and health facilities, you can contact Dignity4Patients, whose helpline is open Monday to Thursday 10am to 4pm.
Dignity4Patients Commentary:- Is it appropriate for a doctor who disregards women's rights, defies directives from state law enforcement, lodges false grievances against colleagues with their professional association, and continues to provide false testimony during an inquiry to be trusted by their profession, peers, and patients? Can a "misunderstanding of cultures" ever justify this behaviour? Is this individual fit to practise anywhere as a "family doctor"? Would you feel secure referring female patients or your children to him? #PatientSafety #PublicTrust #ProfessionalBoundaries #SafeHealthcare
