Patient who had sex with Wellington doctor: He knew I was vulnerable
When Wellington doctor Deane Drew called one of his patients to invite her for an overnight stay on his boat, she thought he was mad.
“I’d been his patient for 25 years,” said Clara (not her real name). “I never felt like he had been inappropriate – but of course, looking back, there were red flags I had missed.”
Stuff has found complaints currently being investigated against Drew involve behaviour across three decades, including allegations he was grooming and targeting vulnerable women in his care. He is currently under investigation by the Medical Council, sparked by Clara’s complaint. Three more women have since made separate complaints.
Drew declined to comment when contacted by Stuff.
In March 2016, Drew was prescribing Clara, 64, antidepressants and sleeping pills, she said. In the weeks before he began asking her to meet, he cut her dosage of sleeping pills. “I just know he knew it was a particularly vulnerable time for me, I’m sure of it. I’m sure he picked his time.”
Drew had texted or called Clara on at least two occasions in the previous years, she said. Once, after treating her during the week for a chest infection, he called on a Saturday and asked to come over. Clara said no — and while she thought the call was odd, she assumed he was just being caring.
But this time, Drew would not take no for an answer, Clara said. He continued to text and call her, asking Clara to meet at a cafe, which she agreed to. While there, he asked her again to come and stay on his boat. She said no. Two nights later, he asked if he could come to see her at home. She said yes.
He stayed the night, leaving for Picton alone. It was the beginning of an on-again-off-again relationship that ended two weeks before Clara complained to the HDC in October that same year.
“It was weird, and it had a terrible effect on me at the time because I was dealing with my own issues, trying to deal with my lack of sleep and he knew all that, and all he was doing was making it worse and I just couldn’t cope.”
Clara told him to stop contacting her, but Drew didn’t listen. “When he couldn’t get me on my cellphone he’d ring me on my home phone and the games would start again. Or he’d come around and knock on the door. His behaviour was just bizarre.”
Eventually Clara told Drew if he didn’t leave her alone, she would make a complaint to the Health and Disability Commissioner. She says she was not motivated by vengeance, but a firm belief that Drew is not fit to practise.
“I felt there may be others, and I thought if that’s the case he needs to be stopped. I think he’s a slightly dangerous man.”
Now, Clara wishes she hadn’t been sucked in. “I’d been his patient for all those years, you know? It just threw me, and I know if I hadn’t been going through all those issues like lack of sleep I would have told him to take a hike.
“He was very persistent.”
Her 2001 article Sexualization of the doctor–patient relationship: is it ever ethically permissible? became the basis for the Medical Council’s current zero-tolerance policy.
“It is not the same as two laypeople consenting, due to the innate inequality of the relationship. When people go to the doctor they have a need which they are hoping the doctor can help them with…that need places them at a certain degree of vulnerability,” Hall said.
“What harm is there? A betrayal of trust. A manipulation of emotion. A misuse of power. It can leave patients very damaged and worse, unable to trust other health professionals enough to be able to get the help they need to recover.”
Research showed doctors most likely to cross boundaries were male, middle-aged and divorced or in rocky relationships, and working in psychiatry or general practice. It usually happened over time with progressive violations of minor boundaries, known as grooming. These doctors were often very emotionally needy and lacking insight into themselves and their emotions, Hall said.
– Stuff
