Neurosurgeon Suspended for Sexual Relationship and Unrecorded Prescriptions
A neurosurgeon has been suspended for eight months after engaging in a sexual relationship with a patient and prescribing opioid painkillers without documenting the prescriptions.
Chirag Patel, a consultant at University Hospital Wales in Cardiff, performed three surgical procedures on the patient between February 2019 and December 2021, according to medical tribunal records.
Shortly after the initial operation, Patel and the patient began a sexual relationship that lasted six months.
However, the misconduct tribunal found that a close relationship persisted and Patel continued prescribing controlled medication until January 2023. He stated that the patient threatened to reveal their relationship. The tribunal noted that Patel "bitterly regrets" his actions.
Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, which manages the hospital, confirmed awareness of the suspension and stated that Patel is not currently employed by the board.
"Persistent and repeated" misconduct
Patel, who had been a permanent consultant at the hospital since 2018, was the only clinician in Wales qualified to treat Patient A's specific condition, the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service was informed.
He first performed a discectomy on Patient A in February 2019, followed by operations in August 2019 and December 2021.
The tribunal heard that by February 2023, the relationship had deteriorated, and Patient A made allegations against Patel to the police.
Although the police did not pursue the allegations, they informed the medical director of the health board.
Patel self-referred to the General Medical Council (GMC), the independent regulator of doctors, in the same month.
GMC counsel Harriet Tighe stated that Patel provided Patient A with his phone number in case she needed to contact him for medical reasons.
She explained that in January 2020, during the ongoing sexual relationship, the patient reported renewed symptoms to Patel, who arranged an appointment through his secretary rather than a general practitioner.
Despite missed appointments, Patel continued prescribing morphine sulphate tablets and diazepam on a non-emergency basis between May 2022 and January 2023 without recording these prescriptions in hospital records or informing the patient's GP.
"The misconduct in this case was persistent, repeated, and was an abuse of professional position which demonstrated a reckless disregard for patient safety and professional standards,"
Tighe said.
"Genuine remorse" expressed
Patel's counsel, Fiona Robertson, stated that between mid-August 2019 and late January 2020, Patient A was no longer under Patel's clinical care and that he believed his formal involvement in her treatment had ended.
Robertson acknowledged that Patel's actions seriously departed from professional standards but argued that the relationship was initiated and largely driven by Patient A through ongoing threats and blackmail.
In a written statement, Patel expressed fear that Patient A would report him.
"I was afraid if she did so I could lose the job I so loved and had worked so hard to obtain.
Given my speciality, this would have a knock-on effect on other patients if I was unable to work.
With the benefit of hindsight I know I should nonetheless have ended the relationship and been honest with my employer. However, at the time I felt panicked and unable to break it off - a decision I now bitterly regret."
Robertson added that Patel accepted his behaviour amounted to misconduct and "seriously departed from professional standards."
The tribunal concluded that despite Patel's belief that he was no longer Patient A's doctor, his behaviour was reckless.
It also found that Patel demonstrated "genuine remorse, a high level of insight and substantial remediation, which in its view significantly reduced the risk of repetition of the misconduct."
The tribunal ruled that an eight-month suspension was the "appropriate and proportionate sanction."
It stated:
"In the tribunal's judgement, that period is sufficient to mark the seriousness of the misconduct, to send a clear signal to [Patel], the profession and the public that such conduct is unacceptable."
In a statement, the health board affirmed its commitment to upholding professional standards and maintaining safe patient care.
It added:
"We are aware that a member of our clinical staff has received an eight-month suspension.
The member of staff is not currently working for the health board."
