By ROB COOPER
PUBLISHED: 10:44 EST, 6 November 2013 | UPDATED: 12:11 EST, 6 November 2013

• Dr Erik Scholten faces ban after being found guilty of misconduct
  
• Surgeon was about to replace woman’s breast implants when he took photo
• He said he planned to show ‘anonymous’ photo to other patients as a comparison
• But the matron found out what happened and he was suspended

A cosmetic surgeon who took a photograph of a woman’s ‘unusual’ genitals on his iPhone while she was on the operating table is facing a ban from the profession.

Dr Erik Scholten, 53, was about to replace the anaesthetised woman’s breast implants when he apparently noticed an unusual feature to her genitalia.

The father-of-two pointed out what he had seen to a nurse and said: ‘Look at hers, she’s not complaining.’

Scholten then pulled the patient’s surgical pants to the side with one hand while taking a picture on his iPhone.

The surgeon, who is a specialist in female genital cosmetic surgery, told the Medical Practitioners’ Tribunal Service he ‘only took one photograph.’

Scholten, who has a ‘super specialist’ interest in women’s vaginas planned to put the picture in his portfolio of genitalia to show other patients as a comparison.

Dr Scholten was suspended from the Fitzwilliam Hospital in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire after the matron ‘dragged him like a naughty schoolboy’ to apologise to the woman and her husband.

The Dutch medic said he had taken the photograph because there was an unusual amount of skin around the woman’s clitoral hood.

But the panel, chaired by Dr Malcolm Phillips, today found him guilty of serious misconduct and he now faces a possible ban from the profession.

‘The panel has no doubt that the public at large would be appalled at what you have done. The medical profession has self-evidently been brought into disrepute,’ said Dr Phillips.

‘The panel accepts that your conduct constitutes a single act but considers it to be serious.

‘It involved a deliberate act in which you pulled aside Patient A’s surgical underpants in order to photograph the exposed area.

‘Furthermore, on your own evidence, you took a willful decision to take the photograph even when questioned by a colleague.’

The woman underwent the operation to have her PIP breast implants removed at the private hospital run by Ramsey Health Care on February 27 last year.

She gave her consent for the surgeon to capture before and after photographs of her breasts and was taken into the theatre where she was anaesthetised.

When nurse Denise Jackman questioned the doctor about the image he told her it was fine as the patient could not be identified from the picture.

‘I was surprised she was exposed in that area. It was surreal. I could not quite believe it had happened and it stunned me,’ Miss Jackman said in a statement.

The tribunal heard the patient’s husband was so furious he wanted to punch Scholten.

In her statement the patient describes the matron ‘dragging Dr Scholten behind her’ and says ‘he was very embarrassed about having been dragged in like a naughty schoolboy.’

She added: ‘I feel I have lost my trust in the profession.

‘I have an unrelated operation coming up and I’m just really nervous about it wondering what might happen.’

Just days after the operation, on March 5, Dr Scholten made a phone call to a ‘stunned’ patient to tell her he had been suspended.

On the same day she received a letter from his solicitor apologising ‘unreservedly’ and stating he had taken the photo to put in a portfolio of women’s genitalia to show to other patients.

It read: ‘I am always adding to my portfolio of different female genitalia to show prospective patients and I was hoping, with your consent, to do so with yours.

‘I would have discussed this with you and, of course, had you objected, I would have disposed of the imagery immediately.’

Dr Scholten was temporarily suspended by the General Medical Council in April 2012 ahead of today’s hearing.

However, he was allowed to return to work under supervision following a High Court ruling in January.

He now faces a full ban from the profession after being found guilty of misconduct.

Giving evidence, Dr Scholten said the case has had a ‘catastrophic’ impact on his life and he is now bankrupt, has had his BMW repossessed and has been forced to sell his three-storey Bedford home.

‘It was wrong. I took a photograph without her consent. I got carried away by my super specialist interest and I’m fully aware that was wrong,’ he said.

‘It was a devastating episode in my life and perhaps also in the patient’s life and I’m therefore grateful the GMC have not asked the patient to appear here as a witness because that would have been devastating for her.

‘She has expressed the feeling she didn’t want my career to be ruined over this.’

Despite apologising and showing remorse, the panel decided he had not shown full insight into his actions and ruled his fitness to work was impaired.

Dr Phillips said: ‘Notwithstanding that this was an isolated incident in an otherwise unblemished career of a gifted and valued practitioner, the panel has concluded that as at today’s date your fitness to practise remains impaired.’

The hearing continues.