‘Octopus’ top doctor suspended for groping
A TOP doctor specialising in women’s health has been suspended for groping a female colleague at a conference.
Dr Khalid Khan, who is in his 50s, was described as “an octopus” by Dr Jen Gunter after he ran his hands over her body and touched her breast.
A disciplinary panel heard that on a different occasion Dr Khan told a junior researcher she had a “nice bum” and tried to kiss another female colleague after asking obscene questions about her sex life.
Nuzzling
Dr Khan, a professor at London’s Queen Mary University, is also an honorary consultant at Barts and the London School of Medicine.
He was editor-in-chief at the British Journal Of Obstetrics And Gynaecology when the encounter with Dr Gunter happened in the US in 2014.
They met for the first time while attending a medical conference as speakers at a hotel in Chicago.
Dr Gunter, who is Canadian but based in San Francisco, said they were introduced after dinner by a friend and ended up alone in the hotel bar. She told the Medical Practitioners Tribunal: “The conversation was going for a few minutes when he placed his hands over my shoulder like we were cuddling.
“I thought it was weird but then thought, ‘Europeans and all that’. Dr Khan moved his hand down from my shoulder and touched my left breast.
“I moved his hand down and pulled away from him. He kept putting his hands around my waist and nuzzling my neck. I pushed him off and asked him to stop. I recollect being groped five to six times. I was peeling him off me.” Dr Gunter said she privately told some colleagues that night but did not go public for three years, when she was inspired by the Me Too movement.
In a 2017 blog the doctor, who regularly appears on American TV, described his actions as like “an octopus”.
Dr Gunter was referred to only as Ms B in the tribunal’s judgment but waived her right to anonymity.
The hearing ruled that Dr Khan’s behaviour towards her had been “sustained and deliberate” and was “obviously sexually motivated”.
Deplorable
The tribunal was also told of the other incidents in 2015 involving Dr Khan and two other women referred to only as Miss D and Miss E.
Describing how he tried to kiss her, Miss D said: “I recall Dr Khan closed his eyes, and his lips were pursed and he moved towards me in a slow, leaning way. He mumbled ‘Sorry’ to himself.”
Dr Khan denied the allegations but was found guilty of misconduct.
In its judgment the panel described his behaviour as “deplorable’ and suspended him from practising as a doctor for a year.