A physiotherapist has been struck off after sexually assaulting a female patient who had gone to him with back trouble.
Adel Razeq allegedly touched the woman intimately when she went to see him about her pain in her lower back at Holbeach Hospital, near Spalding , in March 2014.
The woman, referred to as ‘Patient A’, claimed the assault came after the physio asked if she used sex toys and said to her: ‘You drive me crazy.’
During her first physiotherapy appointment on March 19, 2014, she claimed that ‘everything was fine’ as Razeq massaged her back and gave her a series of exercises to do.
But on her second appointment one week later, as the patient complained of pain in her hip area, Razeq asked her if she used sex toys.
The patient said: “He said he was going to do an ultra-sound and he pulled out this metal wand and put jelly on the device and on my hip, and it is at that point he asked if I used sexual devices.
“At first I thought he meant condoms. I said do you mean condoms because his language was broken English, but he said no I mean sex toys.”
He then began the ultra-sound procedure on the patient’s hip, before asking ‘if it was getting hotter’.
Patient A continued: “I was lying on the bed and he was to the side of me at around my knee level. He moved under my knickers, asking if I could feel it.”
“He said to me: ‘You drive me crazy’. He hit the end of the bed and said he had the best job in the world.
“He asked me if I felt the same way and I said: ‘No. Most definitely not.”
Razeq stood trial accused of sexual assault and assault by penetration in July 2015, but the jury acquitted him of the first charge and couldn’t reach a verdict on the second.
But Razeq was struck off after being found guilty of sexually motivated behaviour and misconduct at the Health Care and Professions Tribunal Service.
Panel chairman Lesley White condemned Razeq’s ‘deplorable’ behaviour and said there was ‘no clinical justification’ for his actions.
She added: “The panel concluded that the registrant breached a fundamental tenant of the profession. It was serious, sexually motivated and therefore amounts to misconduct.
“The panel also considered that the registrant had shown no insight, remorse or reflection for his behaviour or the significant impact on the patient. Not only did the registrant breach a fundamental tenant of the profession, he also brought the profession into disrepute.”
Leila Chaker, for the HCPC, told the panel: “He said he would book her an appointment next week, at which point she declined and said she would find herself a new physiotherapist. The registrant then referred to his family and said this is his livelihood.”
The patient left the hospital in a state of panic after realising “what had gone on was creepy and wrong” and almost crashed her car on her journey home, the tribunal heard.
She went to her neighbour’s house after the incident, where her neighbour’s husband rang the police.
Razeq was arrested the following day on March 27, but denied any wrongdoing.
Patient A, who broke down when recalling the incident, said: “I felt exposed and it was embarrassing, but as it is a doctor you do put a bit of trust in them. I have now lost all of my confidence and trust in the NHS.”
Razeq, who was absent and unrepresented at the hearing, was found guilty of misconduct and sexually motivated behaviour.
He was struck off and handed an 18-month interim suspension order.
