Man accused of kissing patient

A woman who alleges she was indecently assaulted by a medical professional while waiting for an invasive procedure believes others could be covering up the incident.

A man has gone on trial, accused of kissing the woman on the cheek as she waited for an invasive surgical procedure at Wellington Hospital.

The man, whose name and occupation are suppressed, is charged with indecent assault in January 2015.

She told the Wellington District Court jury yesterday about inappropriate comments from the man, and how panicked she became as his behaviour continued.

The complainant said that, while she was waiting for a camera to be put in her rectum to check for bleeding, she asked the man how long the procedure might be.

He answered her by asking if she liked walking around with no clothes on. She was wearing a hospital gown.

Later, when she asked for a blanket, he told her he could get into bed with her and warm her up.

‘‘His tone was smarmy and creepy,’’ she said.

In the operating theatre, he helped her get into position and drew the hospital gown up over her backside for the procedure.

He said something about having seen everything now he had seen her bum.

The complainant said she told him she thought that was inappropriate, and he put his arm across the bed above her, leant down, kissed her cheek and said she was lovely. ‘‘I was taken aback and I froze.’’ While the procedure was under way, the man rubbed her feet and toes and told her a story about a man exposing himself to him.

She did not feel safe and asked for the procedure to be stopped. When it was not, she said she got louder, nearly screaming until it was stopped.

‘‘I was starting to panic … I wanted to be out of the situation,’’ she told the jury.

She was not sedated and did not think she had misinterpreted the gestures.

The complainant told defence lawyer Val Nisbet that, in an interview with the hospital during an investigation into the incident, she believed that the other medical professionals in the room were close enough to hear what was said to her.

She did not believe they did not see or hear anything, and thought it possible they were covering it up. They are expected to give evidence later in the trial.

Nisbet told the jury that neither the comments nor the kiss happened, and that his client acted professionally that day.