A general practitioner who had a sexual relationship with a patient for almost a year has been found to have breached professional standards.
A female patient complained to the Health and Disability Commissioner about the conduct of the doctor, who had been her GP for several years and to whom she had consulted about sensitive issues.
The relationship became sexual and during its last three months the doctor used two different cell phones to persistently text the woman, including some containing explicit content, the HDC found.
Health and Disability Commissioner Anthony Hill found that the doctor sexually exploited the woman and failed to maintain professional and ethical standards.
The commissioner also found that the doctor failed to exercise reasonable care and skill when he prescribed codeine to the woman over the telephone, eight months after she had experienced an anaphylactic reaction to codeine that had required hospitalisation.
