Doctor sat woman patient on knee

A woman patient has admitted she wrote a "stupid" letter to a Scarborough doctor two days after he allegedly sprawled her across his knee in his surgery. The patient wanted to know whether he had feelings for her or if he was a "pervy doctor", a disciplinary panel heard.

Dr Paul Hirschowitz is said to have sat the woman across his lap and then remarked: "Something happens to a man when a woman sits on his knee."

Patient C told a General Medical Council fitness to practise hearing that Dr Hirschowitz had become more like a friend than a doctor during their consultations at the Norwood House Surgery. He stroked her hand and face on a number of occasions and would end every visit with a cuddle, she claimed.

The woman, who was suffering from depression, visited his surgery in March 2007 to ask him to write a reference for a house move. At the end of the consultation he grabbed the mother-of-two and pulled her towards him. She said: "I went to stand up and he pulled me down into his lap. I was sprawled across his knee, which was a bit weird. It felt all wrong.Then he put his hands round me in a bear hug."

Two days later she delivered a letter to the surgery which was opened by clerical staff. "This was just a stupid letter," she told the panel, sitting in Manchester. Patient C wrote to Dr Hirschowitz: "We both crossed the patient/doctor line. I liked sitting on your knee, you are a fine handsome man. If you have a spare five minutes will you meet me? I know you are a married man. That is why I cannot understand the signals you gave me."

She told the panel the intention was for her friend to come along to any meeting where she would frankly tell him what she thought of him. Dr Hirschowitz, 50, who has practised at the surgery since August 2004, denies misconduct and has opted not to attend the hearing or have legal representation.