Anesthetist Charged For Filming, Touching 3 Young Women While They Were Unconscious In Hospital

A 59-year-old anesthetist in Australia has been charged with three counts of sexual assault for filming and touching three young women while they were unconscious, authorities said.

The unidentified man from Queensland was accused of inappropriately touching three female patients on separate occasions while he was working at a hospital in Toowoomba, a city in southern Queensland. The alleged offenses happened between November 2020 and February 2021, Canberra Times reported.

The police believe that the accused photographed the women without their consent and touched them while they were unconscious. The investigators are expecting more possible victims as the man had worked in several private and public clinics during this period.

Based on the complaints of the alleged sexual assault, the Queensland Office of the Health Ombudsman ordered the man to stay away from female patients and was terminated from the hospital in April. The agency also imposed conditions on the doctor's registration with the Medical Board of Australia demanding him to notify the alleged offenses to all his employers, ABC.Net.au reported.

"There is nothing more important to us than patient confidentiality as well as patient safety and security," the spokesperson of the hospital said.

"We will continue to cooperate with police and encourage anyone who thinks they may be affected, or if they have more information, to contact the police directly," the spokesperson added as reported by ABC. Net.

He is scheduled to appear in the Toowoomba Magistrates Court on August 10.

In May, a woman in India was allegedly abused while she was hospitalized for treating COVID-19. The 45-year-old patient accused four men of sexually abusing her while she was tied to a bed in the intensive care unit of a hospital in Patna, in the Northern Indian state of Bihar. The incident came to light after the victim revealed her ordeal to her daughter who came to visit her in the hospital. The daughter recorded a video clip containing a statement from her mother and shared it on social media and it went viral. The police registered a case and initiated an investigation after the victim succumbed to death.