KIDNEY DOC’S TRAVELODGE SEX ROMPS WITH WOMAN PATIENT Intimate chats and texts led to trysts at hotel
A TOP kidney transplant doctor began an illicit affair with a patient after claiming he “couldn’t get her out of his mind’’ when she undressed for a medical, a tribunal heard.
Dr Richard Smith, 53, a consultant in renal medicine, fell for the woman after she took off her top when she and her husband went to his rooms to ask him to inspect a rash on her back.
Later, married Smith used claims of being in an unhappy marriage to chat up the flattered woman at subsequent meetings.
They exchanged flirtatious text messages before eventually becoming lovers, booking hotel rooms across Britain for sex.
The eight-month affair came to light when the patient’s husband became suspicious after discovering flight boarding passes to various locations.
It emerged she was under the care of the Oxford and Cambridge educated doctor at Southmead Hospital in Bristol from 2008 but he kept his feelings hidden until February 2012 when the affair began, it was said.
Despite the escalation of their relationship Dr Smith – an expert in diabetes and a university lecturer – still carried out the consultations.
Earlier the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service in Manchester was told the woman – known as Patient A – was a lifelong diabetic and underwent a kidney transplant in 2011 which required SECRET: Doctor Smith and sex hotel monthly follow-up appointments.
Counsel for the General Medical Council, Mr Ciaran Rankin said: “Patient A recounts how she felt the relationship between herself and the doctor changed following a particular visit she had made in relation to a rash that had developed on her back
“The appointment, in the company of her husband, meant she had to take her top off in front of the doctor.”
He went on to say that on a later visit “...he described to Patient A that he couldn’t get the image of her out of his mind, which left her feeling flattered.”
Things escalated with intimate chats which led to kissing.”
Mr Rankin said the pair continued to speak on the phone and text, and added: “Over this period the texts became of a more flirtatious nature and resulted in Patient A booking a room at a Travelodge near a shopping centre outside of Bristol as the doctor said he had the day off.
“This resulted in the first sexual encounter. The venue was used for such encounters two or three other times.”
He said that the two met up in Cardiff, Newcastle, Oxford and London – the latter while he was at a medical conference.
Dr Smith admitted the sexual relationship but he denies trying to stop Patient A giving an account of their affair during an investigation. His contract with the NHS Trust was terminated in May 2013.
The hearing continues.