A doctor has denied sexually assaulting a female patient during a pre-operative examination in the Mater Hospital, Dublin, last year.
Asked why he performed an internal examination on the 23year-old tonsillectomy patient, the 35-year-old defendant told a jury in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court yesterday: "I was following the book."
The junior anaesthetist, a separated father of a four-year-old daughter, was employed on a "supernumerary" basis. He has pleaded not guilty before Judge Frank O'Donnell and a jury to sexually assaulting two female patients on July 28th last year.
The defendant quoted from a text book which stated a "full physical examination" should be undertaken on a patient, even on bodily systems not directly relevant to the condition and the findings recorded in case of "morbidity".
His counsel, Mr Barry White SC (with Mr Cormac Quinn), asked why no reference to the internal examination was made in his notes of the assessment.
The defendant replied that a senior staff member had told him only to note down positive findings in his reports. The woman was normal.
He began work as a house officer in Pakistan in 1993. He had a young daughter from an arranged marriage with a woman in Britain but they were now separated.
He completed six months' work experience of general surgery and six months of general medicine but was never trained to carry out a pre-operative assessment.
He became an "observer" in the Mater in May 1997 but was not allowed to touch patients. No one supervised him to teach him about the hospital's equipment and methods, he said.
In July he took up an unpaid position as junior anaesthetist in the hospital.
On a number of occasions he told senior staff he did not know how to to carry out his duties but was given no help, he said.
"If the doctor had told me about the procedures I would not have carried out an internal examination. I was only following the book," he told Mr White.
The defendant said he carried out the vaginal examination after the patient complained of a bowel condition. He told the court he did not carry out four internal examinations as she claimed.
He also denied kissing her or fondling her breast. To check for heart conditions it was necessary to touch near her breast, he said.
He further denied telling the woman she was a "beautiful lady".
He claimed she asked him what he thought of Irish people and a friend had advised him to answer such questions by saying: "Irish people are beautiful and easy-going."
When the examination was finished the woman was in a happy mood and said "Good night, doctor".
Asked why he did not wear gloves during the examination, he said he came from a poor country and gloves were never worn by doctors there.
The omission of the gloves in this case was as a result of his lack of experience. Usually a nurse would be on hand to point out a junior doctor's mistakes.
He said he inquired whether the patient was on the pill and about her menstrual cycle to check if she was pregnant. In Pakistan an unmarried woman would not be asked if she used contraception, but things were different in Ireland.
The doctor conceded he may have looked at the patient strangely when she said she was not on the pill.
The trial continues on Monday.