‘#MeToo Moment for UK NHS’: Surgeon Sexually Assaulted during Surgery, 11 Rape Cases Surface – News18

At least one in three female surgeons in the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) have been sexually assaulted in the last five years. The survey has been described as a “#MeToo movement for surgery” by members of the NHS.

The survey conducted by the British Journal of Surgery reported 11 instances of rape, according to reports by the BBC and the Times.

Among the respondents, all of whom were female surgeons, 30% said they were sexually assaulted, 29% of women were subjected to unwanted physical advances at work, more than 40% had received uninvited comments about their body and 38% receiving sexually directed comments or “banter” at work.

At least 90% of the women respondents said they witnessed sexual misconduct in the past five years.

At least 81% of the men also responded that they witnessed instances of sexual misconduct during the period of the survey.

A harrowing incident, reported by the BBC based on the findings, depicted by a female doctor, narrated an event during a surgery where one male doctor, who was sweating while conducting a surgery, thrust his face onto her breasts and rubbed his sweaty eyebrows there.

She was petrified by his actions and when the male doctor was about to do it for the second time, she offered him a towel, only to listen to this in response: “No, this is much more fun.”

Then the male surgeon smirked. “It was the smirk – I felt dirty, I felt humiliated”.

In a separate case, another female surgeon did not describe what happened to her as rape, while speaking to the BBC, but clearly indicated that the sex was non-consensual.

“I trusted him, I looked up to him. He walked me back to the place I was staying, I thought he wanted to talk and yet he just suddenly turned on me and he had sex with me,” the female surgeon said.

“I couldn’t stop him, I felt like there was a very strong culture of just putting up with whatever was done to you,” she further added.

“Sexual misconduct occurs frequently and appears to go unchecked in the surgical environment owing to a combination of a deeply hierarchical structure and a gender and power imbalance. The result is an unsafe working environment and an unsafe space for patients,” the report, accessed by UK-based media outlets, said.

Tamzin Cuming, a consultant surgeon who chairs the Women in Surgery forum at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, said the report represents “a #MeToo moment for surgery”.

Dr Binta Sultan, speaking to the BBC said, that the report makes for a very painful reading. “We are already taking significant steps to do this, including through commitments to provide more support and clear reporting mechanisms to those who have suffered harassment or inappropriate behaviour,” she said.

The survey was compiled by the University of Exeter and consisted of 1,436 responses to an anonymous online survey.

It was commissioned by the working party on sexual misconduct in surgery – a group of NHS surgeons, clinicians and researchers.