London based Nigerian doctor, Ewere caught pants down with patient in hospital toilet having sex suspended

A Nigerian doctor in the United Kingdom (UK), Ewere Onyikpe, accused of having sex with a patient in a hospital’s toilet cubicle, has been suspended for an additional six months.

According to reports, Onyikpe is said to have begun a sexual relationship with the woman while employed as a locum registrar at the Whittington Hospital, London.

An online newspaper reported in 2023 how the Medical Practitioners Tribunal of the General Medical Council (MPT of the GMC) – a medical regulatory body in the UK – imposed a sanction of a six-month suspension on the suspect’s practising licence after he was found guilty by an investigative tribunal.

Having completed the six-month suspension, the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (PSA) appealed against the MPT’s decision before a UK court on the ground that it failed to take into account the vulnerability of the patient within the allegation.

However, a tribunal hearing in February reconsidered the case. It determined that Onyekpe’s registration should be suspended for 12 months having been found guilty of misconduct which was later reduced to six months to reflect the suspension already served.

The details of the case and decisions of the tribunal chaired by Tanveer Rakhim are highlighted in a 61-page document after the hearing held from 12 February to 29 February.

How it happened
The tribunal heard that the suspect, a Nigerian-born medical doctor, examined the patient after she was brought to the Whittington Hospital’s Accident and Emergency (A&E) Department by ambulance on 5 June 2020.

He made a diagnosis of sciatica and prescribed pain-killing medication for her and had an “intimate examination” which was considered to be appropriate.

It was Onyikpe’s “unchallenged evidence” that before the patient left the hospital, she gave him her telephone number on a piece of paper saying ‘in case you want to be friends or anything’.

Onyekpe allegedly sent the patient a WhatsApp message an hour after she was discharged from A&E and the pair exchanged messages over the coming days.

On June 10, she was brought back to Whittington’s emergency department where she exchanged messages with the doctor for three-and-a-half hours which became “personal and highly s3xualised.”

The pair allegedly had consensual sexual intercourse in the hospital’s toilet cubicle that same day, the tribunal heard. The next day, Onyikpe went to the patient’s home and again had consensual sex with her.

The tribunal further heard that the pair continued to exchange sexual messages, interspersed with medical advice from Onyekpe, until 24 July 2020.

On August 3, 2020, Onyikpe was arrested on suspicion of raping the patient but the police released him without charge, after which GMC found out about the facts of his arrest.

Whittington Hospital, London
Demands for erasure from medical records
The representative of the medical regulatory body, Rosalind Emsley-Smith, submitted at the tribunal that the appropriate and proportionate sanction in this case was one of erasure.

Emsley-Smith stated that Onyikpe had admitted the majority of the allegations he faced before the tribunal and the totality of the allegations he had faced before a previous tribunal.

About the aggravating factors of the case, Ms Emsley-Smith submitted that Onyikpe used his position as a doctor to pursue a sexual and improper emotional relationship with the “vulnerable” patient.

Emsley-Smith submitted that the only way to remedy the damage to the reputation of the profession, which she said had occurred as a consequence of Onyikpe’s decisions and conduct, would be to erase his name from the medical register.

However, in his defence, the doctor’s representative, James Counsell, submitted that Onyikpe accepts responsibility for his misconduct, reminding the tribunal that it occurred nearly four years ago.

Counsell submitted that Onyikpe has always acknowledged that “his behaviour transgressed professional boundaries and that he had let everybody down, including himself, his family and his colleagues.”

He stated that Onyikpe was a family man with a supportive wife and referred to the various testimonials that spoke of him as a man with integrity.

Counsell stated that the GMC accepted that the relationship was entirely consensual. He referred to the rape allegation and Onyikpe’s arrest in the presence of his wife, as well as the investigation by the GMC and the Trust, and how he cooperated with the entire process.

After the submissions, the tribunal concluded that Onyikpe’s conduct, spanning seven weeks, demonstrated a failure to prioritise the care of the patient, “who was vulnerable at all material times.”

Tribunal’s decision, conclusion
The tribunal concluded that the misconduct was adequately addressed with the substantive suspension, adding that it is not necessary to impose an immediate order of suspension on Onyikpe’s registration.

“This means that Onyikpe’s registration will be suspended from the medical register 28 days from the date on which written notification of this decision is deemed to have been served unless he lodges an appeal,” the tribunal noted.

“If Onyikpe does lodge an appeal he will remain free to practice unrestricted until the outcome of any appeal is known.

“For the same reasons, the tribunal also determined to revoke the interim order of conditions with immediate.