Supreme Court Fines Nipple-Sucking Doctor

[bagatelle]

Finland’s Supreme Court has ruled that a physician who sucked a female patient’s nipple during a medical exam is guilty of sexual harassment and official misconduct.

The court slapped the doctor with a 4,800 euro fine and ordered him to pay the patient 1,200 euros with interest.

In July of 2007, a 20-year-old woman visited the doctor for an ultrasound breast exam. During the exam the doctor proceeded to suck the woman’s nipple.

The court found that while the doctor’s unorthodox methods were not sexual in nature, he had sought sexual gratification. By performing a sexual act under the auspice of a medical exam, he took advantage of the patient’s trust and abused his position, the court said.

Lower courts had previously dismissed the charges against the doctor.

I have to add this translation from a Finnish piece of news:

Prior to the ultrasound test the doctor had examined the woman's breasts in various positions, spread the gel needed in examination with bare hands and complimented her breasts being of good shape.

After the ultrasound the doctor had asked the woman to milk the other breast in order to produce secretion. Since no secretion came out by pressing, the doctor had sucked the nipple after getting consent from the woman.


Would you refuse, if a doctor asks you to let him (or her) suck your breasts as part of medical examination? I would probably get highly suspicious, if the doctor would not suggest using of pump, for example. I recall reading about this earlier and the doctor had then explained that the taste of secretion could also tell him something about the condition of breast.

Any other thoughts on this topic?

[genuinegirly]

He's a quack. There is no situation where I would be ok with this. The doctor has abused the trust of this patient and probably others. A fine is not a steep enough penalty.

[Ourcrazymodern?]

Openly wondering about what penalties genuinegirly might apply, I must also question why Finland failed to address this in a more reasonable manner. Is this a joke I haven't heard?

"Would you like some butter on your loaf?"

I take you to the sauna for a spanking.

[RetroGunslinger]

Well played, doctor. Well played.

[Willravel]

She consented? That's odd. Was she just trusting his authority as a medical professional? Was there coercion?

[redwolf]

It sounds like they are a little soft on the sex deviants over there.

[bagatelle]

You might get a heart attack, if you chose to spank someone in a hot sauna.

The story says she consented, so from the defense point of view, this is to show that the doctor was not forcing himself.

I don't think they can show more evidence against the doctor to prove it was a sex crime, it seems.

However the patient advocate in that hospital had received two other complaints before this incident and two complaints afterwards.

We don't go easy on sexual deviants here at all, when there's solid proof. I would rather echo RetroGun above, that he played well, IF he was playing. I would think this will stain his records though.


Here's some further explanation from previous court stage:

The woman went to lie on the research table wearing a towel on her naked upper body. The doctor had not spoken to her, just taken off the towel.

The doctor had told her to stand up and squeezed her breast from back and front. The woman said doctor had pressed himself against her while standing behind her. The 20 year old woman had studied to become a nurse, she said the doctor had not pressed the breasts against the breast tissue, like the previous doctor, but his hands were doing circular motion on the breasts.

The woman gave her consent
The woman told that the doctor was not in eye contact to her at all during the examination, but kept looking lower on woman. At some point the doctor had told the woman, her breasts are of good shape and asked if she's pleased with them herself.

Next the doctor had told the woman to go lie down on the research table. The doctor had then spread the gel needed in ultrasound examination on her breasts using both hands. The woman had no complaints that the ultrasound would be nothing but approriate.

After that the woman had told him about the secretion coming out of the breast. The doctor had told the woman to press the breast, but no secretion came out. Then the doctor had asked, if he may taste the nipple. The woman said, she gave her consent confused and in panic. The doctor had sucked her nipple 10-15 seconds simultaneously holding his hands on her breasts.

The woman had told (this sentence implies she told the doctor himself in the situation, but not sure) that this kind of behaviour is not approriate in a patient doctor relationship. The woman said, she had felt awkward and humiliated from the beginning.She also said, she reacted very strongly to the situation. Next day the woman contacted Patient Advocate.

Doctor's point of view
The doctor claimed it was nothing but a usual examination. He had greeted the patient normally and said his eyes were naturally on the breasts.

He had years of routine to examine the patient while the patient is standing and he is sitting, since he claims it's difficult if the patient is sitting. He denies examining the breasts with circular motion and describes pressing them.

According to the doctor spreading the gel with a spatula is not that practical, hence he uses hands. The doctor said this does not harm the examination.

The doctor said he had decided to use an old, but rare way, learned from old midwives, to suck the nipple to produce secretion. According to him, he only sucked very briefly.

He had complimented the breasts to ease the patient. The patients are often concerned about the shape of their breasts and suspect something is wrong with them.

The doctor denies of acting with sexual intentions in mind, he didn't notice the patient being embarrassed either.

All medical reports on the matter and many experts as well judge the methods as inapproriate though, while the court could not prove there was a sex crime committed.