An obstetrician and gynaecologist has been struck off after engaging in a sexual relationship with a junior colleague who was also his patient at the time.
The senior doctor, who worked at a hospital in Bromley as well as others across South East London, also “inappropriately operated” on her, assisted in her surgery when she had requested him not to due to their intimate relationship, and removed her stitches following this surgery at his own home.
Christopher Steer, a 67-year-old experienced consultant who worked at a number of different NHS and private hospitals at the time of the relationship, was subject to a Medical Practitioners Tribunal between February and April this year. The anonymous Patient A complained about Mr Steer’s conduct in 2020 claiming she first met Mr Steer when she was referred to him as a patient at Chelsfield Park Hospital, Orpington, in December 2015.
She then worked with him at the hospital “on one or two occasions” but said she did not know him very well. She asserted that he began to text her on a weekly basis in February 2016 after she had been admitted to A&E, with the messages at first being related to her health condition.
In her initial 2020 complaint, she said: “Within a couple of weeks these messages had started to get suggestive. By April 2016 he’d offered to do a private scan for me free of charge. When I said I didn’t need a scan he stated that I should come and meet him for a drink or cocktails.
“The same night he texted me and said ‘meet me outside Chelsfield Hospital and I’ll go back to mine with you’. Other texts included him mentioning how attractive I was and how he is attracted to me.”
The tribunal revealed several WhatsApp conversations between the two in which Mr Steer called Patient A a “very attractive intelligent young woman” and repeatedly asked her to meet him for drinks. Mr Steer stated he was “certain” the WhatsApp messages provided by Patient A were edited and he denied sending any inappropriate messages. The tribunal did not accept either of his assertions.
The tribunal also found that Mr Steer pursued an improper emotional relationship with Patient A between February and September 2016 while he was treating her for gynaecological issues and while he held a more senior position in their workplace. This relationship then became sexual in November 2016 and lasted until April 2017 while she remained his patient.
Mr Steer initially denied the intimate relationship, stating he had been “stupid and foolish” and that Patient A had set up “a honeytrap” for him. The tribunal favoured Patient A’s version of events believing Mr Steer’s claims to be undermined by the WhatsApp messages, one of which revealed that he had asked them to be “boy friend girl friend” for as long as Patient A desired as eventually she would “get fed up” with him.
As well as the sexual relationship, the tribunal found that Mr Steer inappropriately performed two gynaecological procedures on Patient A when she first became his patient. One of these procedures was a hysteroscopy which allows doctors to examine the inside of the womb through the use of a thin camera device, and the other was a form of surgery undertaken to relieve chronic pelvic pain.
An expert witness who provided evidence on behalf of the General Medical Council (GMC) stated: “There was no clinical indication for a hysteroscopy and this was an unnecessary intervention with potential risks. The inclusion of a hysteroscopy in an adolescent with endometriosis was below the expected standard.”
The witness, known as Mr B, also stated that the “invasive” surgery “was not appropriate for a patient of such a young age” who had not had any children yet. In response to the claims that these procedures were inappropriate, Mr Steer stated that the operation on Patient A was “individualised” for her, and that she woke up pain-free and was able to return to work following the surgery.
Mr B acknowledged Mr Steer’s point about individualised care, but said that in Patient A’s case, a course of injections for 6 months would have been more appropriate. He also said there was “absolutely no need” for Mr Steer to have carried out the hysteroscopy.
The tribunal also found that Mr Steer assisted in Patient A’s surgery in February 2017, despite Patient A’s repeated requests that he not be involved due to their sexual relationship at the time. Patient A claimed that following the surgery, she visited Mr Steer’s house in March 2017 where he removed her stitches, an event Mr Steer denied ever took place but the tribunal found to be true.
The tribunal determined that Mr Steer had acted dishonestly in regards to concealing the GMC investigation when completing an appraisal form in March 2021 and that he failed to obtain fully informed consent from Patient A in regards to the 2015 procedures.
The tribunal ruled that all these facts amounted to serious professional misconduct. Although Mr Steer has not worked as a doctor for the past four years, he hoped he would be able to return to treating patients and would be “willing to undertake any necessary remedial actions or professional development to address the concerns raised and to ensure that my practise remains safe, effective, and in line with the standards expected of a registered medical practitioner”.
However, the tribunal determined that Mr Steer’s fitness to practise was impaired due to his clinical malpractice, sexual misconduct and dishonesty, and although it decided Mr Steer “would not present a high risk to patient safety if he fully remediated his clinical malpractice”, it also ruled that “Mr Steer had abused his professional position as a senior consultant and used it to pursue an improper emotional and sexual relationship with a patient and junior work colleague”.
This, they said, proved Mr Steer “showed a blatant disregard for professional boundaries” and resulted the tribunal’s decision to erase his name from the Medical Register.
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