Surgery affairs doctor struck off

Dr Rusling denied his fitness to practise had been impaired

A GP who had sex with a patient and co-worker in his surgery has been struck off as a doctor.

Dr Michael Rusling, 48, was found guilty of misconduct by a General Medical Council (GMC) panel after he admitted the affairs.

The misconduct took place while he was a GP at the Sydenham House Group Practice in Hull, East Yorkshire.

The GMC said Dr Rusling's affairs and a police caution he received for assault meant he could no longer work as a GP.

The doctor was cautioned after pushing over his wife, who has since divorced him, outside their home in Beverley in February 2007.

His affair with a married grandmother, known as Patient A, began in 2006 and continued for seven months, the panel heard.

Your behaviour demonstrated a reckless and blatant disregard for the principles at the heart of the medical profession: being trustworthy and acting with integrity Roland Doven, GMC panel chairman

The pair once had sex in Dr Rusling's consultation room while her husband waited outside.

The GP also had an eight-month affair with a woman who worked at the surgery, known as Miss C.

The GMC heard the affair ended after July 2005 but Dr Rusling continued to pester and harass her.

He was forced to resign from the Hull practice when the allegations about his conduct towards Miss C came to light.

He was then given an interim suspension before his case came before the GMC.

'Abused trust'

The GMC panel said it acknowledged the financial problems Dr Rusling faced due to loss of earnings during his current suspension, particularly in relation to providing for his five children.

Mr Roland Doven, chairman of the panel, told him: "The principal aggravating factor in your case is the cumulative nature of your actions over a period of several months.

"Your behaviour demonstrated a reckless and blatant disregard for the principles at the heart of the medical profession: being trustworthy and acting with integrity.

"You abused your position of trust as a doctor and risked jeopardising the trust patients are entitled to place in you and the public's trust in the profession."

Allegations that Dr Rusling threatened to withhold drugs from a depressed patient, known as Patient B, if she refused to have sex with him were dropped.