Doctor suspended for sexting mid-surgery

A US anaesthesiologist has had his licence suspended for constantly sexting while his patients were under anaesthesia.

State medical authorities in Seattle, Washington ruled that Arthur K. Zilberstein's "preoccupation with sexual matters" compromised patient safety.

Zilberstein, 47, is accused sending 250 text messages with sexual innuendo during procedures between April and August 2013, including Caesarean deliveries, paediatric appendectomies, epidurals, tubal ligations and cardiac-probe insertions.

One day last June he sent 64 texts during seven surgeries. "I'm hella busy with C-sections," one of them read.

He also allegedly sent selfies to a patient showing him in scrubs with his genitals exposed, accompanied by risqué messages such as: "Oh. And my partner walked in as I was pulling up my scrubs. I'm pretty sure he caught me."

The sexting was not the extent of Zilberstein's alleged transgressions.

He stands accused of looking at private medical records "for his own sexual gratification," having sex in the hospital, issuing unauthorised prescriptions and making racist remarks to a patient.

He has 20 days to respond to the charges and request a hearing.

Source: Washington Post

Author: Erin Tennant, Approving editor: Martin Zavan