Surgeon who masturbated during video session has work suspension reduced to one year
A plastic surgeon who was masturbating during a video consultation with a patient has been given a shorter work suspension. The Central Disciplinary Court has him a maximum work ban of one year. A lower disciplinary judge had removed him from the register of healthcare workers last year, which meant he was no longer allowed to work in healthcare. The man appealed against this decision.
According to the judges on the Central Disciplinary Board, the original punishment was “too severe.” They said that it was a “one-time thing,” that the chance of repeated behavior was “not significant,” and that the case has already had grave consequences for the man, the disciplinary board stated.
The man has not only been punished by the disciplinary board but also in court. He was sentenced to 120 hours of community service and a provisional prison sentence of five months for sexually transgressive behavior. He was also forced to pay 500 euros in damage compensation.
The doctor had performed an eyelid correction on the woman in May 2022. The stitches were allowed to come out after a week. However, the woman had become concerned with how the eye looked. One eye was thicker than the other, and she was afraid that she was going to become blind.
This led to the woman asking the man for advice via WhatsApp, which led to him starting a video call. He was lying on a bed in a hotel room and turned the phone to show his genitals. The woman ended the call immediately.
After repeated urging from the doctor, a second video call followed later that evening, during which the man again was seen masturbating on camera.
"He showed bare skin around the navel area, made masturbating movements in the groin area, made groaning noises, while his answers to the patient's questions were not very substantive. They were disjointed and incoherent," the disciplinary board stated. The woman had recorded the images as evidence.
Initially, the doctor denied any wrongdoing but admitted his crimes two years after the fact.
Reporting by ANP
