Women NHS (National Health Service) surgeons on Tuesday revealed that they have suffered a torrent of sexual assaults by colleagues in the workplace, according to a survey described as a “#MeToo movement for surgery”.
According to the survey, almost one in three female surgeons working in the NHS have been sexually assaulted in the past five years. 30% of female surgeons who responded said they had been sexually assaulted, 29% of women had experienced unwanted physical advances at work, more than 40% had received uninvited comments about their body and 38% receiving sexual “banter.”
Almost 90% of women said they had witnessed sexual misconduct in the past five years as against the 81% of men who have witnessed sexual misconduct.
Surgeons who took part in the study, published in the British Journal of Surgery and shared with the BBC and the Times, reported 11 instances of rape.
The Royal College of Surgeons said the findings were “truly shocking.”
Tim Mitchell, the president of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, told the BBC the survey’s findings are “deeply shocking and will be a source of great embarrassment to the surgical profession”.
He acknowledged it is “clear it is a common problem” that has not been addressed.
According to the Daily Mail, a woman claimed she was sexually assaulted by a consultant while their patient was anesthetized on the operating table.
A few surgeons have come forward to share what they have gone through with the media.
For instance, a consultant plastic surgeon from Bristol, according to the report, told The Times that she was discussing a patient with a male colleague when he tried to give her a hug. She said: ‘He made some noises and rubbed himself against me. And then, as he backed away, he said ‘You probably felt my erection then,’ and he also told me he could see down my top.’
The surgeon said she did not want to make a fuss because ‘we were about to go into theatre and I don’t think I had properly registered what had happened’.
Later that evening, she was working with the same colleague who offered to tie up her gown, which is a normal procedure among surgeons.
But she claimed he said ‘Now you’ve given me permission to tie you up under any circumstances’ — before kissing her on her neck from behind.
She also claimed to have ‘no faith in the system’ to protect her from attackers like the colleague who assaulted her., the Daily Mail said.
