Cough Examination: Family doctor ‘cupped patient’s breast in his hands and started breathing heavily.

A family doctor cupped a patient's breast in his hands and began breathing 'heavily and erratically' as she underwent an examination for a severe cough, a medical tribunal heard today.

Married father-of-two Dr Abhijit Banerjee, 42, locked the door of his consulting room and told the woman to take off her bra before he knelt in front of her with his head in 'close proximity' to her nipples, it was claimed.

He was also said to have squeezed the patient’s right breast and appeared to be 'jittery' during the routine chest examination. 

The woman claimed she could only see the top of the GP’s head as he listened under her right breast.

The alleged incident occurred in March 2012 after the 42-year old woman known as Patient A went to see Dr Banerjee at the Abbeyview surgery in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, where he is senior partner.

The hearing was told she had suffered chest conditions including pleurisy, pneumonia and sarcoidosis for a number of years which required up to 60 chest examinations. She had previously been prescribed antibiotics.

Giving evidence from behind a screen at the Medical Practitioner’s Tribunal Service in Manchester, Patient A said: 'I told Dr Banerjee I had a severe cough and I took a place on the couch.

'He stood up and stood in front of me. I sat on the edge and facing me. He asked me to remove my top. He said it was so he could give me a chest exam. There was no screen or curtain. He didn’t offer me a chaperone, I’m very certain of that, but I didn’t request one either.

'I was wearing a bra and kept it on at that stage. He began to listen to my chest with a stethoscope. He wasn’t particularly talking. He also listened to my back. I leant forward because I’m used to having chest exams.

'He listened under my bra strap from the front to my chest but he didn’t explain that was what he was going to do. He then asked me to remove my bra. He said it was to listen to my chest.

-Dailymail