Perverts masquerading as doctors: When sexual abuse is disguised as medical examination

Not long ago, Mugo Wa Wairimu, a gynaecologist whom the Kenya Medical and Dentist Practitioners Board disowned as one of their own, was in the news for all the wrong reasons. This was after he was caught on a hidden camera sexually exploiting sedated patients.

The matter is currently in court, with Mugo facing, among others, rape charges he allegedly committed to his clients in clinics he operates in Nairobi’s Githurai and Zimmerman estates.

Mugo’s saga was reignited after a reader wrote to our agony aunt weeks ago, asking for advice on how to handle her family doctor with his “sexually motivated medical examinations that have become too much”.

Jane, a 24-year-old student at Technical University of Kenya, complained of how the medic compliments sensitive parts of her body, making her uncomfortable. She, however, said she finds it extremely difficult to share her ordeal with her mother for fear of scandalising the doctor who is respected by her family.

“I went there over painful periods that I have been experiencing, but my subsequent checks and consultations have always left me more traumatised than the pain I go through ‘that time of the month’,” she wrote.

Talking to a medic who works at a leading city hospital, who sought anonymity lest he gets victimised by his colleagues for exposing them, Crazy Monday discovered that many women are regularly subjected to sexual abuse disguised as legitimate medical examination.

“It’s not just rogue pastors, we have enough perverts in the medical profession. If only it was easy to differentiate what constitutes sexual abuse and medical examination, many medics would be in jail,” says the doctor, adding that recognising abuse within medical context is very difficult.

Recognising sexual abuse in medical context                                      

“Some of us know such colleagues but choose to keep quiet lest we open a Pandora’s Box that would taint the profession’s image. Take, for example, those who are so obsessed with routine tests and examinations involving genitals, rectum and other sexual body parts like the breasts,” he says, giggling cheekily.

Apparently, some of these perverts take advantage of the fact that the nature of such tests privileges them with the opportunity to disguise sexual abuse as what the medic calls “just being thorough and not leaving anything to chance”.

“I once had a colleague who always insisted on female patients, especially the innocent ones, undressing, even when they were suffering from, say, a headache or any other illness that doesn’t need one to get naked to be examined.

He would proceed to carry tests on their genitals, even when they were medically unnecessary, say, on virgins. Whenever I got concerned, he would claim he was just ensuring everything was okay,” he says, adding that some of the abuses are too subtle for patients to notice like when a doctor’s hand brushes their hands against breasts, making it look like it was by accident.

“Others deliberately let their fingers linger way too long in women’s privates during bimanual tests. In such cases, women can only suspect abuse but can’t prove it,” says the medic, adding that it is unfortunate that some bosses help in the cover up by renaming such sexual abuses and simplifying them to “medical misconduct” during dismissal.

Random chats with women corroborated what the medic said and the fact that many are subjected to abuse disguised as medical care. A host of women we talked to confessed having been subjected to what they suspect were unnecessary examinations at one point.

Take, for example, the case of a certain Beatrice who has changed dentists enough times. She says her perky mammary glands have been a sell off.

“I’m blessed with a big bust, but this blessing comes with its own challenges. I have had my share of drama with dentists and sometimes it can be traumatising,” complains Beatrice, giving an example of a time she had to literally walk out on a dentist who kept leaning across her ‘milk boxes’ to pick imaginary things from the other side of the dentistry bed she was laying on.

The story has been the same with the other dentists but one was bold enough to suggestively tell her how he wished he could do more than just clean her teeth.

“My ring has never dissuaded these doctors from wanting to get to my chest. After realising that I would never win this war, nowadays I insist on my husband accompanying me whenever I have an appointment and so far so good,” she says.

Anne, a first time mum, whose son is now seven weeks, says after reflecting on some of the tests her doctor took after she discovered she was pregnant, she wonders if indeed they were that necessary.

“After I used the usual kit to test whether I was pregnant and it turned out positive, I went for a more credible test and my doctor recommended a transvaginal test. I didn’t mind going through the procedure that time out of curiosity. But flashing back on the whole procedure, I think I was sexually abused,” she says.

Hear her: “He kept repeating same tests every day I visited. Apparently he at times couldn’t get the right angle and I was forced to try almost every other position as if I was auditioning for a scene in a porn movie. The last stroke was when he asked me to assume the doggy position. At first I thought he was joking but hey! Who disobeys a doctor.”

Anne’s naivety being a first time mum saw her go through the tests but wonders whether there’s any legislation that protects a woman who suspects she may have been sexually abused by her doctor given the fact that it would be hard to table evidence.

“It is such a tricky affair, being a first time mum, I consumed every bit of information my doctor fed me with since I wanted to give my unborn baby the best, but sometimes these doctors take advantage of some situations,” she says.

Even though many women share similar sentiments, it is sometimes difficult to differentiate between a genuine and a sexually motivated examination as all a woman wants is to have a solution to what took her to hospital. Most of the women we talked to had the ‘what goes on in Vegas, remains in Vegas’ as even tabling evidence in such cases is hard.

Notably, Mugo’s case couldn’t take off for lack of witness statements which are key in such a case. The ‘doctor’ who is out on a Sh1m cash bail is still treating patients in his six clinics across the city.

What to do if you suspect to have been sexually abused by your doctor

Even though most women choose to remain silent after suspecting they may have been sexually abused by their doctors, there are different avenues through which they can raise such complaints.

According to Wangu Kanja, the founder of Wangu Kanja Foundation which provides survivors of sexual and gender based violence with access to medical, psychological, psycho–social, and legal redress, if a woman suspects she may have been sexually abused at a medical facility, the first thing is to seek second opinion from another medical facility.

“Before administering or recommending for a test, doctors are supposed to explain to their patients on what they will go through and how the procedure will help in solving their problem, so before undergoing any test, a patient is supposed to glean as much information as they can from the doctor.

This is, however, not the case with many of us, we take every bit of information by doctors as gospel truth,” she explains.

Wanja also says women should report such cases to concerned authorities such as the Kenyan Medical Association, The Kenya Obstetrical and Gynaecological Society and The Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board among others. Reporting to a nearby police station is also another option.

Above all, she says no one should accept to undergo a test without proper explanation on how the procedure is done and explain how intrusive it might get.

 “It is very hard sometimes to differentiate a genuine test and an ill motivated one, but always trust your instincts, you can also share your predicament with a close friend or relative and if you have enough reasons to report to the authorities that be, don’t hesitate,” she further adds, joking that if a doctor really wants to compliment any of your body parts, he is free to do so to your liver, spleen or arteries not breasts, hips and other sexual organs!

Wanja says the ministry of Health also should be in a position to provide a proper guideline on a doctor-patient relationship which outlines the parameters of a doctor-patient relationship.