It really WAS a mobile phone in my pocket!
Doctor accused of sexual misconduct for hugging staff blames his bulky Nokia
A DOCTOR accused of becoming aroused while hugging two nurses yesterday blamed a bulky mobile phone in his trouser pocket. Dr Mohammed Yasin, 30, embraced them on an A&E ward because he thought it was part of the ‘work culture’.
Both women – a student nurse and a healthcare assistant – described their shock as the locum allegedly moved his hands down their bodies before grinding against them.
But Dr Yasin told a medical tribunal the women had probably felt his old-style Nokia and key fob inside his trouser pockets – and insisted he didn’t find them attractive.
However they maintained it couldn’t have been an object, with one pointing out she ‘knew the difference between a mobile phone and [arousal]’.
The alleged incident occurred on April 2 last year when all three were on a night shift at New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton. The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service in Manchester heard that Dr Yasin hugged the women because he wanted to ‘fit in’ and had seen other colleagues doing the same.
The healthcare assistant – referred to as Miss B – was assisting an elderly patient to the toilet when Dr Yasin approached her looking ‘stressed’. She said he asked if he could have a hug but without waiting for a response put his arms tightly around her. As his hands moved towards her hips he began moving ‘back and forth’ and ‘grinding’ against her, she said.
Miss B told the hearing: ‘ He rubbed himself against me – it’s not something that happens every time you go to work. If it was a marker pen or a banana I would have felt it straight away. It couldn’t have been a mobile phone or a set of keys.’
She said it was commonplace in A&E for staff to hug one another or patients if they became upset, but not for a doctor to hug a nurse. She added: ‘I remember it felt horrible.’
The hearing was told Dr Yasin later came up behind 21-year- old student nurse Miss A and started to rub her shoulders. A few minutes later, she said he asked for a hug and then embraced her. But she too noticed that he was visibly aroused, adding: ‘I don’t think it was a phone or a key fob.’
‘The whole thing made me feel uncomfortable from start to finish,’ she said. The two nurses shared their experiences and reported the locum to hospital authorities.
Dr Yasin, from Birmingham, told the hearing he was ‘ offended and hurt’ by the women’s claims. ‘I was not aroused – I can only imagine I had something in my pocket at the time,’ he said.
‘I would have carried my Nokia phone, key fob and tissues. I don’t even find these girls attractive.’
Dr Yasin said hugging women was ‘not normal for me in terms of my upbringing’ but that when he saw staff of a similar background embracing he thought it was acceptable. He did concede he may have held them too tightly, however.
‘I felt hugging was just part of the culture at work,’ he said. ‘One of the things I was concerned about was with the concept of fitting in.’
He said the handset the women may have felt was a Nokia ‘Candybar’ 3310, a model which became hugely popular after its introduction in 2000 and which has recently been revived in updated form.
Dr Yasin, who is unmarried, said he had two younger sisters and would be ‘ furious’ if someone hugged them without asking. He denies sexual misconduct. The hearing continues.
‘I can tell the difference’