Gynaecologist ‘fondled patient and suggested they have affair’
A GYNAECOLOGIST fondled the breasts of a married patient who was fighting to save maternity services at his hospital, a tribunal has heard.
Consultant obstetrician Tony Boret, 53, is said to have developed a flirtatious relationship with the 38-year-old banker’s wife after she started a petition for the private maternity unit.
He later kissed her and confessed that he had cheated on his wife before suggesting they have an affair and book a hotel room for sex, it is alleged.
Yesterday Boret appeared before a hearing of the medical practitioners tribunal service in Manchester, accused of sexually motivated misconduct. He faces being struck off if found guilty.
The panel was told that Boret met the mother of two, who is married to a London financier, when she was pregnant with her first child.
Their relationship developed when she began campaigning for the maternity unit at Watford General Hospital while pregnant with her second baby.
But in June last year Boret allegedly tried to take things further when he began kissing the woman, known as Patient A, in his office. Patient A said Boret told her she was ‘beautiful’ before asking her how she would feel about having an affair. He also put his hands up her top and touched her breasts on top of her bra, it is claimed.
She said she fled the consultation but asked for a further meeting four days later. She added: ‘He told me he wanted to take me to a hotel and make me orgasm.’ Patient A later emailed the doctor to reassure him his ‘career would be safe’. In reply Boret said their relationship was ‘nothing more than a doctor and patient and that there should be an element of trust between them’.
But Patient A replied: ‘You have already broken it, what the hell are you on about?’ She later apologised and said she had told her therapist she had ‘made it all up’.
During the hearing, Boret’s lawyer, Robert Wastell, accused the woman of trying to lay a ‘paper trail’ with her emails.
He also accused her of coming on to the consultant, adding: ‘You wanted to pursue him more. You felt a sense of entitlement because of your work for the practice.’
But she replied: ‘I wouldn’t put myself through this ordeal if it didn’t happen. This was someone who I trusted.’
Boret qualified in 1987 and joined Watford General Hospital in 2001. He denies sexually motivated misconduct. The hearing continues.