Tribunal Says Doctor Who Left Surgery To ‘Make Love’ Can Keep Practicing

A medical tribunal in the United Kingdom has ruled that a consultant anaesthetist who left a patient under general anaesthetic to engage in a sexual act with a nurse can continue practising medicine, describing him as being at “very low risk” of repeating such misconduct.

Dr. Suhail Anjum, 44, shocked colleagues when he walked out of an operating theatre at Tameside Hospital, Ashton-under-Lyne, on 16 September 2023, leaving a patient mid-surgery, and was later discovered in a compromising situation with a nurse identified as “Nurse C.”

According to reports presented to the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS), Dr. Anjum had asked another nurse to monitor the patient while he stepped out to the bathroom. Instead, he went to another theatre where he was caught tying his trousers while Nurse C was seen “with her trousers around her knees.”

The doctor was absent for eight minutes, though the patient reportedly suffered no harm. Following an internal investigation, Anjum was dismissed by the hospital in February 2024.

At last week’s hearing, he described the incident as a “one-off error of judgment,” admitting: “It was quite shameful, to say the least. I only have myself to blame. I let down everybody, not just my patient and myself but also the trust.”

Tribunal chair Rebecca Miller noted that the misconduct was serious enough to undermine public confidence in the profession, stressing that Anjum had “put his own interests before those of the patient and his colleagues.” However, she concluded that the likelihood of recurrence was “very low.”

The panel decided not to impose sanctions, though it will reconvene in Manchester on Tuesday to consider whether a formal warning should be issued on his registration.

Anjum, who relocated to Pakistan with his family after his dismissal, has since resumed medical practice there but told the tribunal he wishes to continue his career in the UK.