Dr Sumit Basu, 59, is alleged to have touched three women ‘under the guise of medical examinations’ over a period of eight years between 2006 and 2014 at the Lewisham Hospital
A heart specialist accused of sexually assaulting three women after exploiting their trust and naivety has told a court that ‘you have to have a feel’ during examinations.
Dr Sumit Basu, 59, is alleged to have touched three women ‘under the guise of medical examinations’ over a period of eight years between 2006 and 2014 at the Lewisham Hospital.
It is claimed that he abused his position of trust and sexually assaulted two of the women with his fingers and asked them about their sex lives.
But giving evidence at Woolwich Crown Court today, he said that in his early training he was taught to always expose the body part he was treating but the process has been modified.
‘You have to have a feel, you have to be a whole doctor,’ he told jurors.
He added: ‘It has been said a number of times Mr Basu did this and that.
‘Medicine is a continuum, you cannot practise it in isolation.’
He told the court it was absolutely necessary to close a curtain when examining patients ‘even if you are just talking’ and that his process with treating female patients has changed.
Dr Basu added:’I was taught to expose the part that you are going to examine completely.
‘That is my training and that has been modified, I am no longer standing in front of an examiner.’
When examining female patients he said he now tells them to keep their bras on.
The court heard that he comes from a medical background, with his father and sister both qualified doctors and his mother a nurse.
His grandfather also practised medicine, he said.
Dr Basu told jurors he wanted to be a doctor for as long as he could remember and would listen to peoples’ chests with a toy stethoscope as a child.
He underwent his medical training in Kolkata, India but came to Britain in 1986 to finish with a plan of staying in the country for ‘four or five years’ before returning home, like his father.
Dr Basu also has a 17-year-old son, and told the court he married while he was still a junior doctor in 1988. He said he will celebrate his pearl wedding anniversary next year.
He was interviewed for a position at the Lewisham Hospital in 2003 and started working there in February 2004, the court heard.
Before that, he also spent four days a week working at the Heatherwood Hospital in Ascot, Berkshire while also working at the Royal Brompton Hospital near Uxbridge.
Giving evidence at Woolwich Crown Court (pictured) today, Dr Basu said that in his early training he was taught to always expose the body part he was treating but the process has been modified
When asked by his defence barrister, Fiona Horlick, how times have changed since he began working at Lewisham Hospital, he said: ‘It has changed and evolved.
‘I have become more experienced, I am more confident in my work. It seems to be an arrogant thing to say but I am a much better doctor seeing thousands of patients.
‘You would have to be fairly unintelligent if you did not improve with that experience.
‘I have got the respects [sic] of my colleagues and I have become a more confident doctor.’
He told the jury of six men and six women he felt ‘cautious’ when he started at Lewisham Hospital but has grown in confidence.
‘I would not call myself gung ho; I am confident,’ he said.
The officer in charge of the investigation, Detective Sergeant Peter Thompson, told the court he drafted a ‘deliberately vague’ press release when Dr Basu was charged.
This was in order to not contaminate any potential witnesses coming forward, he said.
Dr Basu told the jury of six men and six women he felt ‘cautious’ when he started at Lewisham Hospital (pictured) but has grown in confidence
Jurors watched a short video clip from London Tonight reporting that he had been charged with the offences.
The officer told the court he made sure that none of the complainants were aware of each others’ allegations and were never introduced during the course of the investigation.
All three complainants were referred to Basu in his capacity as a consultant when they complained of chest pains.
Basu denies the charges.
The first alleged victim was a second year medical student who complained of rapid heartbeat, palpitations and chest pains, the court has heard.
It is claimed Basu then examined her breasts and touched her nipples during her first appointment and, on her fourth appointment, inserted his fingers into her vagina.
Prosecutor Hanna Llewelyn-Waters previously said: ‘Whilst the defendant had his fingers fully inserted into her vagina, he asked the complainant about her sex life’.
The girl, now 22, who wept giving evidence to jurors behind a screen, reported the allegations to police in March 2016.
Media coverage of Basu’s arrest prompted two other alleged victims, now aged 32 and 22, to come forward, the court has heard.
Basu, of Ringmore Rise, Lewisham, southeast London, denies seven counts of sexual assault and three counts of assault by penetration.
The trial continues.
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