Doctor struck off for asking patient to be ‘friend with benefits’
GYNAECOLOGIST, 55, ALSO CALLED 32-YEAR-OLD WOMAN ‘BABES’
A DOCTOR who suggested a patient become part of a ‘friends with benefits’ arrangement rather than pay for her surgery has been struck off.
Dr Xavier Mmono, who also called his 32-year-old patient ‘babes,’ appeared before top judges.
The woman complained about his inappropriate conduct and Mmono, 55, medical director at Aesthetic and Laser Clinic, based in Albert Square in Manchester city centre, was suspended for four months.
Regulators then suspended him for a second time last year after he carried out intimate checks without a chaperone present.
Now Mmono, from Salford, has been struck off the medical register after a judge ruled the second punishment was too soft.
In 2016, a tribunal heard how the gynaecologist had encouraged the woman to have an £1,800 operation on her private parts after she had been teased by a former partner.
Mmono insisted she could ‘pay later’ and suggested being casual sexual partners, adding in a text: “Mates with benefits good I agree! Will remind u in two years when not a patient.”
Other inappropriate texts sent by Mmono included him saying: “I thought u were out having sex with ur friend!”
The woman complained about Mmono after she was sent a legal threat when she failed to pay her bill. He was handed a four-month suspension in 2017, followed in March 2018 by a further 12-month suspension for carrying out an intimate examination without a chaperone.
The High Court in London ruled that the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service was wrong not to kick Mmono out of the profession, despite mitigating evidence which showed he was of previous good character and there were no issues with his clinical performance.
Mrs Justice Lambert described the decision not to strike the doctor from medical register as ‘illogical and flawed.’ She said Mmono was ‘persistently dishonest’ and had demonstrated ‘a blatant disregard for the truth’ when giving evidence to the tribunals. Backing the appeal from the General Medical Council, she said: “This is not a case which is on the cusp. I am satisfied that the outcome is clear – the only outcome is erasure. “I therefore allow the appeal. I quash the decision and substitute the sanction of erasure.”
According to his website, Mmono graduated from Manchester University in 1988 and trained in obstetrics and gynaecology in York, Leeds and Sheffield.
He then worked as a consultant at hospitals in Nottingham, Norfolk, Norwich and The Wirral.
He also read medical law at the University of Wales, Cardiff.
A spokesman for the Aesthetic and Laser Clinic criticised the ruling, saying it ‘lacked proportionality’ and described Mmono as a ‘skilled, highly- experienced and knowledgeable doctor.’
The spokesman added: “After three years and nine separate hearings, Dr Mmono decided not to engage with what was a very expensive and stressful process.
“The misconduct charges were over a ‘minor error’ made in submission of documents during one of the hearings.
“He maintained this error to be inadvertent, but the GMC thought otherwise.
“Throughout these hearings he represented himself. There has never been any allegation of inadequate or improper medical practice and indeed hundreds of mainly positive reviews have been published about him and the clinic on various websites.
“The case lacked proportionality and became personal, costing hundreds of thousands of pounds of doctors’ fees and many, many man-hours.
“The clinic is a laser and aesthetic clinic and performs many treatments not requiring medical registration.
“Indeed, the GMC have so far been unable to define what treatments are the sole domain of a registered doctor beyond signing prescriptions and death certificates.
“In as far as we are disappointed by the negative outcome and press, we have the utmost respect for Dr Mmono as a skilled, highly-experienced and knowledgeable doctor, laser expert and aesthetician, sentiments shared by thousands her has worked with and treated in the past.
“We hope that this case will result in the reform of the GMC legal system.”
The case lacked proportionality and became personal Aesthetic and Laser Clinic spokesman