Judge rules Doctor in the West Midlands should not be suspended
32-year-old Dr Nour Rezk. admitting sexually harassing two nurses.
A High Court judge has concluded that a hospital doctor who admitted sexually harassing two nurses should not be suspended, but says conditions of practice must be imposed on his registration.
Lawyers representing the General Medical Council (GMC) had appealed after a tribunal decided in April that "no action" should be taken against 32-year-old Dr Nour Rezk.
They argued that he should have been suspended and said the tribunal had not given enough "weight" to the need to "promote and maintain public confidence" in the medical profession.
Mrs Justice Lang allowed the GMC appeal, but has concluded that "imposing conditions" is a "proportionate" sanction.
The judge outlined her conclusions in a ruling published on Monday after considering the GMC's appeal hearing at a recent High Court hearing.
She said Dr Rezk had moved from Egypt, where he had been a physician in the Directorate of Health Affairs in Alexandria, in 2017 and had trained at hospitals in various parts of the country, including Nottingham, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, Walsall, West Midlands, and Birmingham.
The judge indicated that he had recently worked at Birmingham City Hospital.
He had admitted sexual harassment of two nurses he had worked with at a hospital in the south west of England about five years ago, the judge said in her ruling.
"In my judgment, the sanction of conditions would be seen by the public and the profession as an ongoing marker of disapproval of Dr Rezk's misconduct ... whilst providing a constructive response to his shortcomings," Mrs Justice Lang said in a written ruling.
"The decision in this case, and the conditions imposed, will remain on Dr Rezk's record, and be publicly available on the GMC website."
She added: "Therefore, I consider that the conditions meet the overarching objective of protection of the public, in that they promote and maintain public confidence in the medical profession and proper professional standards and conduct for members of the profession.
"In my view, conditions are a proportionate sanction which strike an appropriate balance between the interests of Dr Rezk and the public interest."