Porn doctor suspended from work

Dr James Angel admitted using hospital computers to view porn

A doctor addicted to pornography has been suspended for nine months after admitting looking at sexual images on a North Yorkshire hospital's computers.

Anaesthetist Dr James Christopher Angel worked at Scarborough Hospital when he viewed the graphic pictures on theatre and departmental computers.

A General Medical Council (GMC) hearing was told he used hardcore search terms when browsing the internet at work.

The panel said a suspension was appropriate rather than erasure.

The hearing was told Dr Angel was caught in July 2006 by routine monitoring of the hospital trust's computers and he immediately confessed and resigned.

Two years earlier while working at Wrexham Maelor Hospital he was acquitted at Mold Crown Court of possessing child porn.

'Exceptional case'

Then, he told the court he was not interested in child sex images, but confessed to being addicted to pornography.

The GMC gave him a warning in October 2004 but he was not struck off.

The doctor had informed the Scarborough and North East Yorkshire NHS Trust about the trial when he started working there, the GMC was told.

He was suspended temporarily in January when the case was first heard.

It was adjourned for medical reports until the hearing resumed on Tuesday.

Dr Kumar, chairman of the fitness to practise panel, said: "The panel found that, despite the serious nature of your conduct in this case, there are factors that make this an exceptional case for which a period of suspension would be the appropriate and proportionate sanction rather than erasure.

"In reaching this conclusion, the panel has taken account of the fact that the pornography you accessed did not portray children and was not illegal.

"It further notes that you have gained some insight into your behaviour and that you are addressing the problems that led to it."

Dr Angel is not currently working in the medical profession.