Doctor suspended after prescribing weight-loss injections to boyfriend

Credit: Getty Images/coldsnowstorm

By Erin Dean

A doctor who acted dishonestly while prescribing weight-loss injections to her boyfriend has been suspended for 9 months.

Dr Josevania Martins concealed she was a doctor to the man, known as Mr B, while prescribing a pen of Ozempic and another of Wegovy.

Dr Martins told Mr B that the prescriptions were filled in by a colleague, the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service found.

One of the prescriptions listed a made-up clinic as her clinical address, which the doctor said was a “protective measure taken for her own privacy”.

Dr Martins wrote prescriptions for the drugs in December 2023 and February 2024 to help Mr B lose weight, the tribunal heard.

Mr B made his first complaint about her to the General Medical Council shortly after their relationship ended.

He said he didn’t realise the prescriptions were by Dr Martins despite being in her name, and he thought it was a “random doctor”.

The panel found that she acted dishonestly both when she said a colleague prescribed the medication and when giving a fake name for a clinic on the prescription.

The tribunal said it was “wholly unacceptable” to make up the name of a clinic and write it on a prescription.

“It is both misleading and seriously dishonest,” the panel said. “All details on a medical prescription must be genuine and be able to be relied upon by colleagues and the public.”

The panel heard that the registrant “wanted to keep the fact that she was a doctor private until her relationship with Mr B was more well-established”.

But once Dr Martins provided Mr B with a prescription, he became her patient and her obligations under Good Medical Practice (GMP) were engaged, the panel said.

The tribunal found she had “breached a fundamental tenet of the medical profession namely, to act with honesty and integrity”.

Dr Martins’ actions meant that Mr B could not give informed consent, as he did not know that she was the doctor treating him.

“He had no idea of the experience or specialisation of the doctor giving him treatment,” the tribunal concluded. “Further, not knowing who treated him would restrict any actions Mr B could take should any problems have arisen with his health or any recourse he could take with third parties to get a second opinion or raise complaint as Dr Martins was hiding her identity.”

She also failed to make a record of the consultations, leaving Mr B’s health records incomplete, the panel said.

Katie Jones, counsel for the regulator, said that Dr Martins had committed multiple breaches of GMP.

The tribunal, sitting in Manchester, found that Dr Martins behaviour amounted to serious misconduct.

Dr Martins, who qualified in Brazil and was practising at her own private gynaecology and fertility clinic in London at the time, said her actions were in the best interests of Mr B’s health and that no harm was caused.

The doctor, who represented herself, said it was a medical emergency as his own GP was failing to act.

She said her actions were “minor, isolated lapses” which did not amount to serious misconduct.

The panel rejected her claim it was an emergency, saying there was “ample opportunity” for Mr B to seek advice from another GP.

The tribunal concluded she had not engaged with her breaches of GMP, showed a lack of insight and had a lack of familiarity with her professional obligations and standards.

But it also determined that her actions were not for personal gain, there was no evidence she had risked patient safety and she had attempted to reflect and shown genuine remorse.

A suspension would be an “appropriate and proportionate sanction” and allow time for Dr Martins to develop her insight and provide evidence of remediation, the panel said.

A number of allegations, including an accusation that Dr Martins disclosed confidential information about testing or treating the wife of a well-known footballer for a sexually transmitted infection, were found unproven.

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