Patient alleges doctor's examination 'sadistic'

AN IRISH-TRAINED doctor pinched the nipples of one of his patients in a manner that may have been “sadistic”, an Irish Medical Council fitness to practice hearing heard yesterday.

South-African born Dr Rashid Motala, who qualified from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in 1984, is facing seven charges of misconduct involving five female patients.

One of the patients, Louise Thomas, who is the personal assistant to the chief executive of the Visa Corporation, said she had her nipples “squeezed viciously” by Dr Motala during a work-sponsored medical screening test in London in October 2007.

All the allegations against him relate to his time in the UK, but the hearing is being held in Ireland because he retains his registration here. A hearing by the General Medical Council in the UK suspended him for 12 months last year, but a Supreme Court decision found that such suspensions could not be relied on in Ireland and separate hearings of the same evidence would have to be held by the Irish Medical Council.

Among the charges against Dr Motala include allegations that he examined another patient in an inappropriate manner for his own sexual gratification and offered to carry out an unnecessary examination of a third patient. He denies all the charges.

Ms Thomas told the hearing that towards the end of her examination Dr Motala had demanded she have a breast examination in such a way that she would be made to feel “foolish” had she refused. She recounted that the incident happened so quickly that she did not have time to shout stop.

When asked if the motivation was sexual, she said: “I’m trying to say that he got pleasure out of hurting me. It might not have been sexual, but it could have been sadistic.” Counsel Gabriel Gavigan said it would be Dr Motala’s view that he behaved appropriately throughout the whole examination. The hearing continues.