International
More punishment for UK-based Nigerian doctor accused of having s€x with patient
More punishment for UK-based Nigerian doctor accused of having s€x with patient
A Nigerian doctor in the United Kingdom, UK, Ewere Onykpe, accused of having sex with a patient in a hospital’s toilet cubicle, has been suspended for an additional six months.
According to a report by Premium Times, Onyikpe is said to have begun a sexual relationship with the woman while employed as a locum registrar at the Whittington Hospital, London.
The online newspaper earlier reported in 2023 how the Medical Practitioners Tribunal of the General Medical Council (MPT of the GMC) – a medical regulatory body in the UK, imposed a sanction of a six-month suspension on the suspect’s practising licence after he was found guilty by an investigative tribunal.
Having completed the six-month suspension, the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (PSA) appealed against the MPT’s decision before a UK court on the ground that it failed to take into account the vulnerability of the patient within the allegation.
However, a tribunal hearing in February reconsidered the case. It determined that Mr Onyekpe’s registration should be suspended for 12 months having been found guilty of misconduct which was later reduced to six months to reflect the suspension already served.
The details of the case and decisions of the tribunal chaired by Tanveer Rakhim are highlighted in a 61-page document exclusively obtained by PREMIUM TIMES after the hearing held from 12 February to 29 February.
How it happened
The tribunal heard that the suspect, a Nigerian-born medical doctor, examined the patient after she was brought to the Whittington Hospital’s Accident and Emergency (A&E) Department by ambulance on 5 June 2020.
He made a diagnosis of sciatica and prescribed pain-killing medication for her and had an “intimate examination” which was considered to be appropriate.
It was Mr Onyekpe’s “unchallenged evidence” that before the patient left the hospital, she gave him her telephone number on a piece of paper saying ‘in case you want to be friends or anything’.
READ ALSO:
- New electricity tariff may drop if naira rebounds further – Adelabu
- Fenerbahce fined over Turkish Super Cup walkout
- I didn’t intend to insult you – Minister of Power apologises over freezer remark
Mr Onyikpe allegedly sent the patient a WhatsApp message an hour after she was discharged from A&E and the pair exchanged messages over the coming days.
On 10 June, she was brought back to Whittington’s emergency department where she exchanged messages with the doctor for three-and-a-half hours which became “personal and highly sexualised.”
The pair allegedly had consensual sexual intercourse in the hospital’s toilet cubicle that same day, the tribunal heard. The next day, Mr Onyekpe went to the patient’s home and again had consensual sex with her.
The tribunal further heard that the pair continued to exchange sexual messages, interspersed with medical advice from Mr Onyekpe, until 24 July 2020.
On 3 August 2020, Mr Onyekpe was arrested on suspicion of raping the patient but the police released him without charge, after which GMC found out about the facts of his arrest.
Demands for erasure from medical records
The representative of the medical regulatory body, Rosalind Emsley-Smith, submitted at the tribunal that the appropriate and proportionate sanction in this case was one of erasure.
Ms Emsley-Smith stated that Mr Onyekpe had admitted the majority of the allegations he faced before the tribunal and the totality of the allegations he had faced before a previous tribunal.
About the aggravating factors of the case, Ms Emsley-Smith submitted that Mr Onyekpe used his position as a doctor to pursue a sexual and improper emotional relationship with the “vulnerable” patient.
READ ALSO:
- Prominent Lagos monarch denies fathering late Mohbad’s son
- Boko Haram slaughters 27 fishermen in Cameroon
- Super Falcons abandoned after victory over Banyana Banyana – NFF
Ms Emsley-Smith submitted that the only way to remedy the damage to the reputation of the profession, which she said had occurred as a consequence of Mr Onyekpe’s decisions and conduct, would be to erase his name from the medical register.
However, in his defence, the doctor’s representative, James Counsell, submitted that Mr Onykpe accepts responsibility for his misconduct, reminding the tribunal that it occurred nearly four years ago.
Mr Counsell submitted that Mr Onykpe has always acknowledged that “his behaviour transgressed professional boundaries and that he had let everybody down, including himself, his family and his colleagues.”
He stated that Mr Onyekpe was a family man with a supportive wife and referred to the various testimonials that spoke of him as a man with integrity.
Mr Counsell stated that the GMC accepted that the relationship was entirely consensual. He referred to the rape allegation and Mr Onyekpe’s arrest in the presence of his wife, as well as the investigation by the GMC and the Trust, and how he cooperated with the entire process.
After the submissions, the tribunal concluded that Mr Onykpe’s conduct, spanning seven weeks, demonstrated a failure to prioritise the care of the patient, “who was vulnerable at all material times.”
Tribunal’s decision, conclusion
The tribunal concluded that the misconduct was adequately addressed with the substantive suspension, adding that it is not necessary to impose an immediate order of suspension on Mr Onyekpe’s registration.
“This means that Mr Onykpe’s registration will be suspended from the medical register 28 days from the date on which written notification of this decision is deemed to have been served unless he lodges an appeal,” the tribunal noted.
“If Mr Onykpe does lodge an appeal he will remain free to practice unrestricted until the outcome of any appeal is known.
“For the same reasons, the tribunal also determined to revoke the interim order of conditions with immediate effect.”
More punishment for UK-based Nigerian doctor accused of having s€x with patient
(PREMIUM TIMES)
International
Israel ejects Gaza hospital, detains medical personnel
Israel ejects Gaza hospital, detains medical personnel
The last major functioning hospital in northern Gaza was forcibly evacuated by the Israeli military on Friday after dozens of people were reportedly killed in Israeli strikes targeting the area.
Medical staff, including the director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, have also been detained, Gaza health officials said on Saturday.
The hospital director, Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, was among the first to report that about 50 people had been killed in Israeli air strikes targeting the vicinity of the hospital on Friday.
The IDF had said it was carrying out an operation in the area, alleging the hospital was a “Hamas terrorist stronghold”.
On Friday, patients at the hospital were forcibly moved to the nearby Indonesian Hospital which doctors warn is damaged and unsuitable due to a lack of power generators and water.
Eid Sabbah, head of the nursing department at Kamal Adwan, told the BBC the military had ordered the evacuation around 07:00 on Friday, giving the hospital about 15 minutes to move patients and staff into the courtyard.
Israeli troops then entered the hospital and removed the remaining patients, he said.
READ ALSO:
- We’re not aware of VeryDarkMan’s missing N180m — Police
- Trump asks Supreme Court to suspend law for TikTok ban
- Romeo and Juliet actress Olivia Hussey dies at 73
The IDF said it had “facilitated the secure evacuation of civilians, patients and medical personnel” before beginning the operation.
Seriously ill patients were moved to the nearby Indonesian Hospital, itself evacuated earlier in the week, which medics have described as non-functional.
“You can’t call it a hospital, it’s more of a shelter. It’s not equipped for patients,” Gaza’s deputy minister of health, Dr Abu-Al Rish, told the BBC on Friday.
Dr Sabbah, from Kamal Adwan Hospital, said: “It’s dangerous because there are patients in the ICU department in a coma and in need of ventilation machines and moving them will put them in danger.”
He had said critically ill patients needed to be moved in specialised vehicles.
The World Health Organization said the raid “has put this last major health facility in north Gaza out of service”.
“Initial reports indicate that some key departments were severely burnt and destroyed during the raid,” it posted on X on Friday.
Nadav Shoshani, international spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), said in a post on Friday evening on X that a “small fire broke out in an empty building inside the hospital that is under control”.
This was when IDF troops were not inside the hospital, he said, adding that “after preliminary examination, no connection was found between IDF activity to the fire”.
The director of Kamal Adwan hospital had said on Friday that approximately 50 people had been killed, including five medical staff, in a series of Israeli air strikes targeting the vicinity of the hospital.
READ ALSO:
- Niger’s president faces fire at home over attack on Nigeria
- Israel attacks: UN warns humanitarian disaster in Yemen may get worse
- Wike: My fallout with Secondus was his opposition to Fubara
The statement from Dr Hussam Abu Safiya said a building opposite the hospital was targeted by Israeli warplanes, leading to the death of a paediatrician and a lab technician, as well as their families.
He said a third staff member who worked as a maintenance technician was targeted and killed as he rushed to the scene of the first strike.
Two of the hospital’s paramedics were 500m (1,640ft) away from the hospital when they were targeted and killed by another strike, the statement continued, with their bodies remaining in the street with no-one able to reach them.
The Israeli military said on Friday morning that it was “unaware of strikes in the area of Kamal Adwan hospital” and was looking into the reports that staff had been killed.
Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahia has been under a tightening Israeli blockade imposed on parts of northern Gaza since October, when the military said it had launched an offensive to stop Hamas from regrouping there.
The UN has said the area is under a “near-total siege” as the Israeli military heavily restricts access of aid deliveries to an area where an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 people remain.
In recent days, the hospital’s administrators have issued desperate pleas appealing to be protected, as they say the facility has become a regular target for Israeli shelling and explosives.
Oxfam said that attempts by aid agencies to deliver supplies to the area since October had been unsuccessful because of “deliberate delays and systematic obstructions” by the Israeli military.
Additional reporting by Shaimaa Khalil
Israel ejects Gaza hospital, detains medical personnel
BBC
International
Trump asks Supreme Court to suspend law for TikTok ban
Trump asks Supreme Court to suspend law for TikTok ban
US President-elect Donald Trump filed a brief Friday urging the Supreme Court to pause a law that would ban TikTok the day before his January 20 inauguration if it is not sold by its Chinese owner ByteDance.
“In light of the novelty and difficulty of this case, the court should consider staying the statutory deadline to grant more breathing space to address these issues,” Trump’s legal team wrote, to give him “the opportunity to pursue a political resolution.”
Trump was fiercely opposed to TikTok during his 2017-21 first term, and tried in vain to ban the video app on national security grounds.
The Republican voiced concerns — echoed by political rivals — that the Chinese government might tap into US TikTok users’ data or manipulate what they see on the platform.
US officials had also voiced alarm over the popularity of the video-sharing app with young people, alleging that its parent company is subservient to Beijing and that the app is used to spread propaganda, claims denied by the company and the Chinese government.
Trump called for a US company to buy TikTok, with the government sharing in the sale price, and his successor Joe Biden went one stage further — signing a law to ban the app for the same reasons.
– Reversing course –
Trump has now, however, reversed course.
At a press conference last week, Trump said he has “a warm spot” for TikTok and that his administration would take a look at the app and the potential ban.
READ ALSO:
- Romeo and Juliet actress Olivia Hussey dies at 73
- Niger’s president faces fire at home over attack on Nigeria
- Israel attacks: UN warns humanitarian disaster in Yemen may get worse
Earlier this month, the president-elect met with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.
Recently, Trump told Bloomberg he had changed his mind about the app: “Now (that) I’m thinking about it, I’m for TikTok, because you need competition.”
“If you don’t have TikTok, you have Facebook and Instagram — and that’s, you know, that’s Zuckerberg.”
International
Romeo and Juliet actress Olivia Hussey dies at 73
Romeo and Juliet actress Olivia Hussey dies at 73
Actress Olivia Hussey, who shot to international prominence as a teenager for her role in the acclaimed 1968 film version of Romeo and Juliet, has died aged 73.
The Argentinian-born actress, who grew up in London, died on Friday surrounded by her loved ones, a statement posted on her Instagram said.
Hussey won the best new actress Golden Globe for her part as Juliet, but decades later she sued Paramount Pictures for sexual abuse as she was aged just 15 when she filmed the movie’s nude scene.
Her other most notable screen role was as Mary, mother of Jesus, in 1977 TV miniseries Jesus of Nazareth.
“As we grieve this immense loss, we also celebrate Olivia’s enduring impact on our lives and the industry,” the statement said.
Hussey was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1951, before moving to London aged seven and studying at the Italia Conti Academy drama school.
1968’s Romeo and Juliet was nominated for best picture and director Oscars
She was 15 when Romeo and Juliet director Franco Zeffirelli discovered her onstage, playing opposite Vanessa Redgrave in the play The Prime of Miss Joan Brodie
READ ALSO:
- Niger’s president faces fire at home over attack on Nigeria
- Israel attacks: UN warns humanitarian disaster in Yemen may get worse
- Wike: My fallout with Secondus was his opposition to Fubara
Zeffirelli was looking for someone who was young enough to be a convincing Juliet in what he intended to be the definitive cinematic version of the Shakespeare play.
He cast Hussey alongisde British 16-year-old Leonard Whiting as Romeo in the film.
The film was nominated for an Oscar for best picture and director. Hussey missed out on an Oscar nomination herself in a strong year in which Barbra Streisand won the main award for Funny Girl.
But at that year’s Golden Globes Hussey won the award for best new star.
Decades later, she and Whiting sued Paramount Pictures alleging Zeffirelli – who died in 2019 – had encouraged them to film nude scenes despite previous assurances they would not have to.
The pair sought damages of more than $500m (£417m), based on suffering they said they had experienced and the revenue brought in by the film since its release.
But last year a judge dismissed the case, finding the scene was not “sufficiently sexually suggestive”.
In 1977, Hussey had reunited with Zeffirelli for Jesus of Nazareth to play the Virgin Mary, before appearing in Death on the Nile a year later based on Agatha Christie’s novel.
Her roles in early slasher film Black Christmas (1974) and TV film Psycho IV: The Beginning earned her recognition as a scream queen. In the latter, she p[layed Norman Bates’s mother in a prequel storyline.
In later years she also took on work as a voice actress, appearing frequently in video games.
But she did have one final reunion with her former Romeo – as she and Whiting appeared together in the 2015 British film Social Suicide, which was loosely based on Romeo and Juliet, albeit set in the social media era.
Romeo and Juliet actress Olivia Hussey dies at 73
BBC
-
Business2 days agoBe creative, monarch, others challenge Muslim professionals on economic revival
-
Auto1 day agoLSM MD extols founder’s qualities after latter posthumous industry award
-
Entertainment2 days agoMultiChoice announces free access to all DSTV channels for 3 days
-
metro2 days agoJigawa State governor loses son 24 hours after mother’s death
-
News1 day agoNigeria Customs Service begins 2025 recruitment [How to apply]
-
metro1 day agoHeavy security in Ilesa as ex-Osun deputy gov emerges new Owa-Obokun
-
metro1 day agoLagos Imam to Tinubu: You haven’t disappointed us
-
metro1 day agoDangote, Tinubu, Lookman named among 100 most influential Africans in 2024 (Full list)