GP guilty of affairs misconduct

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/england/humber/8236963.stm

Version 0 of 1.

A GP from East Yorkshire who admitted affairs with a patient and a co-worker has been found guilty of misconduct.

Dr Michael Rusling, 48, had sex with a grandmother and an employee in his consultation room at the Sydenham House Group Practice in Hull.

A General Medical Council (GMC) panel found that the GP's affairs and his sexual harassment of the co-worker amounted to misconduct.

The GP was forced to resign from the Hull practice in March 2007.

The GMC panel is now considering whether to impose sanctions on Dr Rusling, who was married with three young children at the time of his misconduct.

The panel's ruling stated: "You embarked on a sexual relationship with a patient in the full knowledge that it was wholly wrong and totally unacceptable.

"You also conducted a sexual affair with a staff member and continued to behave inappropriately towards her in the workplace.

"Your conduct was not an isolated incident but represented a pattern of reckless and inappropriate behaviour."

Assault caution

The affair with the married grandmother, known as Patient A, began in 2006 and continued for seven months, the panel heard.

Dr Rusling also had an eight-month affair with a woman who worked at the surgery, known as Miss C.

The GP told the GMC he started the relationship with Miss C in 2004 when he needed some comfort because sex at home was "infrequent".

The affair ended after July 2005 but Dr Rusling continued to pester and harass her, the panel heard.

The GP was forced to resign from the practice when the allegations about his conduct towards Miss C came to light.

The panel also found Dr Rusling's fitness to practise was impaired after he was cautioned by police for assaulting his wife.

He received the caution in February 2007 after pushing over his wife at their home in Beverley.

Allegations that Dr Rusling threatened to withhold drugs from a depressed patient, known as Patient B, if she refused to have sex with him were dropped.