Surgeon gave patient breast op then had a f ling with her
Now he’s banned for 12 months
A PLASTIC surgeon had a onenight stand with a private patient he treated for a botched boob job.
Renato Zaccheddu, 48, was invited to dinner at a smart restaurant by the woman to say thank you for fixing her deformed breasts.
Following the meal the pair went back to his hotel for a bottle of red wine and sex. The patient, in her 30s, later lodged a complaint against Zaccheddu, claiming he made her feel uncomfortable at appointments.
The General Medical Council launched an investigation and yesterday the surgeon was banned from working for a year.
Its officials uncovered intimate texts, in which Zaccheddu described his patient as a ‘beautiful girl’ and promised to help her get ‘her sexiness back’.
They also discovered that the woman, known as Patient A, had mental health problems, including depression, an eating disorder and body dysmorphia. Zaccheddu admitted having sex with her while he was working at Transform, a private clinic in Manchester, but claimed he was going through a ‘difficult period’ in his life.
He said she had begged him to help her because she had been feeling down and he had ‘tried to give her confidence’. At a
‘Invited her to his hotel room’
hearing of the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service in Manchester, Zaccheddu was found guilty of serious professional misconduct and suspended.
Patient A refused to testify against the Italian-born doctor, claiming she did not want to get him into trouble.
Claire Sharp, chairman of the panel, said: ‘The proper professional boundaries were repeatedly breached by Dr Zaccheddu through the creation of an inappropriate emotional relationship, numerous inappropriate text messages, and his actions in meeting Patient A socially and engaging in sexual intercourse with her.’
The hearing was told the woman had been left with deformed breasts after undergoing a botched breast augmentation at a different clinic and turned to Zaccheddu for corrective surgery.
Following her operation in July, Patient A complained she had felt uncomfortable when Zaccheddu carried out his pre-operative markings on her breasts and that he got ‘too close to her’ physically.
Louise Kitchin, for the GMC, said: ‘Following her discharge she received a text asking about recovery from surgery, he was telling her she was a beautiful girl and he would give her her sexiness back.
‘Texts became more frequent and in August 2018 she met him at the Grill on New York Street in Manchester. After meeting Dr Zaccheddu she went with him to the Malmaison Hotel where he was staying.
‘ They continued to drink whilst in the bar, he then invited her to his hotel room. He accepted that they had gone to his hotel room and sexual intercourse had taken place.’
Zaccheddu, of Edgbaston in Birmingham, has since attended a course on professional boundaries.