St Albans physio cleared of biting woman’s shoulder
- Credit: Archant
A St Albans physiotherapist was cleared last week of biting a woman’s shoulder at a city centre clinic.
But Christopher Lewis was said to have “crossed professional boundaries” by leaning over a client and squashing her breasts back in May 2013 at Verulam Clinic, a panel ruled.
A Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) panel decided Mr Lewis’s actions were not sexually motivated.
The panel are to reconvene at the end of this month to consider sanctioning him after deciding his fitness to practise was “impaired”.
Mr Lewis admitted having inappropriate physical contact with the client who was being treated for a fractured shoulder.
An “informal atmosphere” had developed and the pair had been talking about personal matters, the panel heard.
He admitted to giving the woman a hug and that his movement exerted pressure on her chest which was not “clinically required”.
Most Read
- 1 Moped crashes with pedestrian on St Peter's Street
- 2 Birch tree roots battle for St Albans neighbour
- 3 Woman in her 60s seriously injured in St Peter's Street crash
- 4 Club night revival in St Albans
- 5 St Albans woman stops British Grand Prix at Silverstone
- 6 Hitchin & Harpenden MP Bim Afolami resigns as Tory vice chair live on air
- 7 Teenager's arm broken during 'metal pole attack'
- 8 Woman assaulted by teenage boys in Hemel Hempstead underpass
- 9 Man stabbed in St Albans
- 10 St Albans MP reacts to new hospitals probe
The woman, who cannot be named, described feeling “vulnerable, uncomfortable and shocked”.
Mr Lewis accepted his conduct was unprofessional. He told the panel: “Not a single day goes by that I don’t go over in my mind where I clearly went wrong”.
The conduct and competence committee decided the client’s account of being bitten might have become somewhat elaborated over time.
Mr Lewis told the panel that his short facial hair may have felt prickly to the woman, who mistook it for a peck on the shoulder.
The committee found the physiotherapist’s fitness to practise remained impaired and that his actions undermined confidence in the profession of physiotherapists.
The panel’s report said: “This was about acting inappropriately with a patient in a vulnerable position and the emotional impact of this action.”