Doctor struck off over sex assaults on patients

A DOCTOR who carried out sex attacks on two female patients in hospitals where he worked has been struck off.

Dr Samir Asa’Ad was jailed for 18 months last year over the attacks, which took place at Crosshouse Hospital in Ayrshire and Hairmyres Hospital in Lanarkshire.

After a hearing of the Medical Practioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) yesterday, he was barred from the profession and told he had shown no remorse for his actions.

The doctor had always maintained he was innocent and insisted there had been a miscarriage of justice. One of the 64-year-old married consultant’s victims told Kilmarnock Sheriff Court how he held her from behind “like a dance move” and tried to touch her intimately.

He held the 60-year-old’s breast and she saw his zip was down, prompting her to leave the examination room at Crosshouse Hospital. The mother of two told the court: “I didn’t want to face him again, no way. I wanted to find out why he did that to me. The sister calmed me down but my husband was angry. He said to the doctor, ‘I’ll see you get your destiny’.

“I went there for a chest examination and nothing else.”

The incident happened in December 2010 and, after publicity around the allegations, another woman came forward with an allegation of sexual assault regarding the doctor.

The 23-year-old was about to be discharged from Hairmyres Hospital when Asa’Ad unexpectedly asked to examine her and he kept his hand on her private parts “for 30 to 45 seconds”, the court heard.

The court was told the Iraqi doctor then sat her down and said, “that’s all”. Asa’Ad, whose address was given as Putney Lane in London, was found guilty of sexually assaulting the 60-year-old by pressing his body against her and committing indecent acts in December 2010.

He was also convicted of sexually assaulting the 23-year-old and carrying out indecent acts on the pretext of examining her in December 2008.

The doctor denied the charges against him but, after being found guilty, he was jailed for 18 months and placed on the sex offenders register for ten years.

The MPTS panel received letters from Asa’Ad’s family and colleagues which said his “impeccable and lengthy career” had been ruined by the allegations.

The MPTS said Dr Asa’Ad’s conviction “was in relation to two separate offences, committed two years apart” and could not be viewed as an isolated incident.

It added: “The sexual assaults took place in a clinical context. They were an abuse of the trust those patients placed in him as a doctor, who they believed was performing a physical examination in order to assess their condition.”

The panel said Asa’Ad had sought to appeal his conviction but this was denied.

He had shown no remorse or insight into his actions and the panel said the only appropriate action was to strike him off.