Love-struck doctor suspended for trying to woo patient

Dr Chizoba Christopher Uzoh has been found unfit to practise today by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS).

The 40-year-old, who worked as a locum GP at Murdishaw Health Centre, accessed the woman’s personal records to obtain her phone number and address, a five day hearing in Manchester has heard.

Dr Uzoh sent the patient a text after she attended an appointment with him on March 22, 2016.

The Nigerian born doctor told her: “I saw you and I liked you and thought maybe we could go on a date.

“I am single and looking for a serious relationship and not intending to mess about.”

The besotted doctor sent several texts, called her mobile phone and left voicemail messages, between March and May, 2016,  the hearing was told.

He also posted a card with flowers to her home address, with a message saying: ‘My heart is pure, I care, I hope it would be possible to make you mine someday.”

Dr Uzoh continued to pursue the woman, referred to as patient A, after she asked him to stop.

The woman said his relentless infatuation left her ‘scared’.

Jayne Wheat, chairman of the Medical Practitioners Tribunal said: “The tribunal considered that the misconduct it had found proved was serious and involved an abuse of the doctor’s position of trust.

“It also found that there was a risk of repetition and of emotional harm to patients.

“An immediate order of suspension is necessary to protect patients.

“In the light of the seriousness of the misconduct, immediate suspension is in the public interest because an order is necessary to uphold standards and maintain confidence in the profession.”

Dr Uzoh, who lives in Great Sankey, Warrington, did not attend the hearing but acknowledged his wrongdoing in written representations.

The hearing concluded he had obtained patient A’s personal records to pursue a personal relationship.

He texted the victim saying: “How is it possible that a good-looking guy who is a doctor, who has a job with huge earning potential waiting for him in Toronto, who was the best graduating medical doctor in his medical school, who started out as a urological surgeon with several well-cited scientific publications before he decided to be a GP for personal reasons, who thinks you beautiful and special wants you and you wouldn’t give him a chance?

“I’ve been in Toronto sorting things out and I couldn’t stop thinking of you.”

Patient A rebutted his approaches in a text saying: “You went too far with getting my address without my permission.

“I will be honest it’s scared me a little because I do not give anyone my address for my own safety.

“And the thought of someone being able to get it so easily when I have put my trust in a doctor is unnerving.”

Dr Uzoh continued to declare his love, texting her: “I’ve been feeling like a school boy meeting a girl he fancied for the first time. I haven’t felt this way in a while.”

The tribunal concluded that the language ‘wants you’ and ‘couldn’t stop thinking of you’ showed an ongoing physical attraction to patient A.

Mrs Wheat said: “The tribunal determined that this continuation of contact was very clearly sexually motivated.

Christopher Hamlet, from the General Medical Council (GMC), said: “Dr Uzoh’s conduct was seriously improper and persistent” and would be ‘found deplorable by fellow doctors’.

He added: “There was a course of conduct that continued even after patient A had made it clear to Dr Uzoh that she wanted him to stop contacting her.”

The GMC called for Dr Uzoh to be struck off but the tribunal decided it was sufficient punishment to suspend his registration for 12 months.

Mrs Wheat added: “The tribunal determined that it would be disproportionate to erase Dr Uzoh from the Medical Register as there was some evidence of insight, no evidence that the behaviour had been repeated and the conduct related to a single patient.

“Thought Dr Uzoh’s behaviour was both wrong and persistent, it is by no means at the higher end of sexually motivated misconduct.

“In the tribunal’s judgement, Dr Uzoh’s conduct though serious, fell short of being fundamentally incompatible with being a doctor.

“The tribunal concluded that a period of suspension would adequately protect the public.”

While the tribunal recognised that an immediate order may have an effect on Dr Uzoh personally and professionally, it was satisfied that the need to protect patients and the public interest far outweighed the impact upon him.

A spokesperson for NHS Halton Clinical Commissioning Group and Murdishaw Health Centre said: “Patient safety is paramount to us and all patient complaints are taken extremely seriously.

"As soon as Murdishaw Health Centre received this complaint we took immediate and appropriate action. The locum GP was suspended from all duties which brought him into contact with patients and we reported the complaint to NHS England for investigation.”