A top surgeon has been suspended for having sex with a patient and sending her explicit pictures.
Consultant neurosurgeon Dr Chirag Patel also prescribed the woman addictive painkillers after beginning a “romance” with her.
A tribunal heard Dr Patel had operated on the woman to remove the damaged part of a disc in her spine and performed a further surgery on her before the pair started a sexual relationship in 2019.
Dr Patel, who worked at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff, operated on her a third time two years later when he inserted a spinal chord stimulator.
Tribunal chair Remi Alabi said: “By February 2023 the relationship had deteriorated. Patient A made accusations against Dr Patel to the police in February 2023.”
The hearing was told police didn’t pursue the allegations but instead notified Cardiff and Vale health board.
An investigation found Dr Patel prescribed the woman an opioid painkiller known as MST until January 2023 along with addictive muscle relaxant Diazepam.
But he did not tell her GP or even make a note in her records.
The hearing was told he continued with the prescriptions even after she had missed appointments.
Dr Patel admitted the sexual relationship and sending the patient “explicit images”.
Chair Mrs Alabi said Dr Patel claimed he was “going through some marital difficulties” at the time his relationship with the patient began.
The doctor said: “When I persisted in telling her that the relationship had to end, Patient A threatened to reveal our relationship to others, such as my employer and colleagues.
“I was afraid if she did so I could lose the job I so loved and had worked so hard to obtain. Given my speciality this would have a knock-on effect on other patients if I was unable to work.
“With the benefit of hindsight I know I should nonetheless have ended the relationship and been honest with my employer. However, at the time I felt panicked and unable to break it off – a decision I now bitterly regret.”
The panel concluded the patient was “vulnerable” and that her repeated requests for painkillers may have been the result of addiction.
It said the doctor had shown “a reckless disregard for patient safety”.
Chair Mrs Alabi said: “Dr Patel had put his personal interests – namely securing his career, reputation and family relationships – above Patient A’s proper care.”
The panel heard a voicemail left for the surgeon by the patient, demanding she “have that prescription” and threatening to report him to police.
She went on: “Chirag, you had one chance, two chance, three chances and more chances. You’re in the country doing your job, I don’t want to f*** you over but my spine is f***ed, right?
“I’ve given you chance after chance after chance. Do you know what? I could just write a book on you, okay? You going to man up and meet me, or are you going to be a cowardly c***, like I think you are? You’re no God, love.”
In his evidence, Dr Patel claimed: “I would only see her under the threat of blackmail and to appease her. Any romantic or friendly relationship had completely ended at this point, and our ongoing relationship was based purely on hostility and blackmail by her towards me.”
He went on: “Patient A had asked for £11,000 previously, which I did not have, so I instead offered to give her £5,000 from my savings.”
Dr Patel claimed to be “deeply remorseful” for prescribing the medication while in the “personal relationship.”
He said: “It is no excuse that I did this under the threat of blackmail and exposure.”
The tribunal was told the complaint against Dr Patel arose when the patient was in “a period of psychosis”.
The hospital’s clinical director for neurosurgery told the hearing it would be “nothing short of a disaster for the people of Wales” if Dr Patel were to be barred from practising medicine.
The panel heard Dr Patel was the only surgeon in NHS Wales able to carry out certain surgeries for neuropathic pain.
GMC barrister Robin Kitching argued he should be struck off due to a risk of him repeating his behaviour as he had not shown “sufficient understanding” of why he behaved as he did.
Dr Patel was handed an eight-month suspension, to “protect the public from the risks posed by Dr Patel’s misconduct”.