UK psychiatrist Salim Nayani banned from practice for hugging, kissing patient

August 25, 2010

On or about August 8, 2010, the UK General Medical Council (GMC) banned psychiatrist Salim Nayani from practicing medicine.  According to evidence presented at hearing, Nayani hugged and kissed a vulnerable female patient, bombarded her with phone calls and told her he’d had a vasectomy.

A hearing before the GMC was told Nayani called the woman 150 times by mobile phone over a two-year period from April 2004 to April 2006. He began treating the patient in December 2003.

An investigation concluded Nayani was guilty of gross misconduct and had breached his duty of care towards a vulnerable patient by conducting an inappropriate relationship with her. Officials subsequently referred the issue to the GMC for consideration.

Nayani, who did not appear at the hearing to defend himself, was investigated by the police but the panel heard that UK law enforcement services decided not to proceed with a case against him.

A GMC panel spokesman said: "The panel has been provided with substantial written evidence from the interviews conducted between the police and Dr. Nayani, and the trust and Dr Nayani, in which he has made a number of admissions."

The panel found that Dr Nayani overstepped the boundaries between a patient and doctor when contacting Patient A by mobile phone, taking her to a restaurant, discussing personal issues with her, sending her a greeting card, taking her to her accommodation and kissing and hugging her.

The spokesman said: "These actions are exacerbated given the serious nature of Patient A's vulnerability, and could have misled her to believe that this relationship was more than just a clinical relationship between doctor and patient. Doctors occupy a position of trust and the panel found Dr. Nayani abused that trust."

The panel also heard that Nayani was given an interim suspension from practising by the GMC in 2008 but that he still worked on nine occasions without telling his employers, Capita Health Solutions, Health Management Ltd and The Police Medicals Appeal Boards, about his ban.

Source: Dan Martin, “Psychiatrist banned over relationship with patient," Leicester Mercury, August 8, 2010.