Dr. Raj Mehta, 65, had been a general practitioner for the U.K.’s National Health Service (NHS) for nearly 40 years when he was accused of sexually assaulting a female patient during a consultation.
The patient claimed Mehta touched her breast during the consultation – which was, apparently, not a breast exam. He was charged in 2017 with two counts of sexual assault. He was convicted on one of those counts. The U.K.’s General Medical Council revoked Mehta’s right to practice after his conviction, even though he had planned to appeal.
Last week, Mehta won his appeal after his attorney’s found evidence that the patient who accused him had lied under oath. The decision to appeal was made on December 13 and a full written judgement will be released in the New Year.
GP Online, a magazine and news source for general practitioner, reported that Mehta was “enormously relieved” after he was exonerated on appeal nearly three years after being convicted.
“After my conviction, I lost everything. I lost my career after nearly 40 years of NHS service. I lost my reputation after adverse media coverage, but also following the medical regulator’s decision to strike me off the medical register, instead of waiting for the outcome of the ongoing appeal,” Mehta told the outlet. “I feel very anxious for the medical profession. Doctors work to do their very best for their patients, often in challenging circumstances, and there simply are not adequate protections to safeguard them against the few patients who make false accusations.”
Dr. Rob Hendry, medical director of Medical Protection, told the outlet: “We are delighted that Dr Mehta has been acquitted by the Court of Appeal. He and his family fought hard to clear his name and we are proud to have been able to support them in achieving this outcome.”
“False allegations can cause a loss of reputation, profession and income. Tragically in Dr Mehta’s case, they can also lead to a loss of liberty,” he added.
Further, Hendry told the outlet, these kinds of allegations hurt trust, which is “vital to the doctor-patient relationship.”
“While such cases are very rare, it is vital that support and protection are in place to protect doctors and the wider profession from the threat of false accusations,” he said.
Nigel Richardson, a defense attorney at Hodge Jones & Allen who represented Mehta, told GP Online: “The conviction of Dr Mehta was particularly troubling, and it took a great deal of effort to uncover the evidence that undermined the single witness’s account.”
Richardson added that Mehta’s “long and distinguished career” had been destroyed due the false allegations and hoped the new British government would pass reforms to the justice system to help victims like Mehta.
It is unknown at this time what evidence the defense presented that convinced a judge to overturn Mehta’s conviction. A spokesperson for the Crown Prosecution Service told GP Online that “The material that formed the basis of the grounds of appeal was not in the possession of the CPS at the time of the original trial, and the Court of Appeal did not suggest that that the prosecution had failed in our duties of disclosure.”