Doctor 'bounced' patient's breasts10 May 2005
A family doctor today admitted bouncing a female patient's breasts with his cupped hands and calling her a "voluptuous woman" after she visited him with a stomach complaint.
When the married woman asked her GP what he meant Dr Mahesh Rajeshwar, from Grantham, Lincolnshire, told her she was a "big woman with big bosoms", the General Medical Council heard.
He told her that her "big bosoms" were causing her problems and called her "darling" as she left the room.
But when the patient, referred to as Ms B, sought a second opinion from another GP and went for a scan she was diagnosed as having gallstones, the GMC was told.
The alleged incidents occurred when Ms B visited Dr Rajeshwar at his practice in Springwells, Billingborough Sleaford, in December 2003.
She went to see him to complain of severe abdominal pain and said she had not eaten for 11 days due to pain and vomiting, the GMC Fitness to Practice Panel, sitting in Manchester, heard.
When the patient entered the consulting room Dr Rajeshwar told her to sit on the examination couch and he began to press parts of her abdomen and back.
Rowena Goode, counsel for the GMC, told the panel: "The evidence of Ms B is that Dr Rajeshwar then proceeded to undo her bra and asked her to lift her top and her bra up.
"He didn't give her any explanation as to why he was doing that, and as she did lift up her top her breast fell loose from her clothing."
The embarrassed patient tried to hold her breast out of the way, but the GP told her to put her hand down by her side, the GMC heard.
Dr Rajeshwar then leaned over Ms B with his face close to hers and began pressing his hand underneath her breasts, asking if they were "tender", Ms Goode told the panel.
Ms Goode told the GMC that the GP asked his patient to return to the chair and it was after the examination itself that he started to use "totally inappropriate language".
She said: "He asked her whether she had ever been told that she was a voluptuous woman and, when she questioned what he meant by the term, he told her he meant she was a 'big woman with big bosoms'.
"He asked her what bra size she was, leaned towards her, held each breast in cupped hands, pushed them up and down and said 'these big bosoms are your problem'."
She added: "Ms B then left the room, being referred to as 'darling' by Dr Rajeshwar."
The doctor admitted the charge that he "bounced Ms B's breasts with your cupped hands, referred to Ms B's breasts as bosoms and asked Ms B if anyone had ever told her she was a voluptuous woman".
Dr Rajeshwar admitted that his language was "inappropriate, disrespectful and offensive", but he denied that the breast examination was inappropriately carried out, not medically justified and inadequately recorded.
He denied unhooking Ms B's bra without permission and failing to explain what he was doing.
The GP, who was present at today's hearing, is also accused of inappropriately squeezing a second female patient's breasts just two months earlier.
He denies a charge of serious professional misconduct.
Author
