Dr Iuliu Stan, who worked at Treliske hospital as a locum senior house office in Trauma and Orthopaedics, has been found guilty of misconduct by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal and he has been struck off the Medical Register.
Allegations were made that he had conducted intimate investigations and prescribed medication per rectum (PR) on up to 40 male patients for his own sexual gratification. In addition, it was alleged that he had also failed to obtain informed consent or offer patients a chaperone. Some of the allegations related to children.
The Trust had previously investigated these concerns and, in May 2020, he was asked to familiarise himself with the Trust’s chaperone policy and was issued a letter advising that he must do so. There is no evidence that he read that letter and treatment of 11 of the patients that were included in the investigation post-date this letter. A statement from the Trust indicates that Dr Stan has not worked at the Trust since September 2020 and was dismissed in March 2021, around the time the GMC was notified.
The Tribunal found that he had subjected patients to unnecessary, invasive and intimate procedures for his own sexual gratification. Some patients had been subjected to intimate and invasive procedures on multiple occasions. In addition, it was found that, on many occasions, he had failed to take informed consent or to offer chaperones or alterative treatment.
The Tribunal ultimately concluded that Dr Stan’s conduct fell so short of the expected standards that it would amount to misconduct and the outcome was that his name would be erased from the Medical Register.
It is understood that the Trust are liaising with the police regarding any further steps.
Gary Walker, a specialist lawyer at Enable Law, says “It is vital that the Trust work with victims to ensure that they are supported through this traumatic experience. That will include making sure they are kept up to date with the ongoing investigations and answering any questions they may have. I would also expect the Trust to be able to provide reassurances that lessons are learnt and appropriate safeguarding measures put in place to prevent any other clinician from being able to take advantage of their position and abuse their patients. The fact that it happened over such a period of time and only seems to have been raised by a patient’s father is worrying and must be addressed“.
