Harley St doc who said Hammersmith would be better without Jews is NOT racist, tribunal finds

A doctor who claimed Hammersmith would be better if it was “Jew free” is not racist but simply “comfortable with using discriminatory language,” an independent tribunal has found.

Dr Dimitrios Psaroudakis, a consultant gynaecologist, has been suspended by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service for three months after making a number of racially offensive, sexist and derogatory remarks about his colleagues and patients.

The tribunal found Dr. Psaroudakis’ comments to be morally reprehensible and sexually explicit. Despite not being explicitly labelled as racist, the tribunal concluded that he was comfortable using discriminatory language, violating the trust and respect expected from medical professionals.

The Harley Street gynaecologist, who previously worked at The Evewell fertility clinic, referred to Jewish colleagues as ‘leprechaun’, ‘alky’, s**t for brains’ and ‘big nose’ in messages sent to a colleague. He made repeated references to Jewish colleagues as “yews” and suggested Hammersmith would be improved if it were “yew free”, and referred to the clinic as “the temple”.

Dr Psaroudakis said he used the term ‘Yew’ or ‘Yewish’ in the messages replacing the ‘J’ of Jewish with a ‘Y’, because of his accent.

The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service concluded: ‘The evidence suggested that it was Dr Psaroudakis’ common practice to pick out and use what could be considered offensive or derogatory characteristics about people whom he did not like or get along with, and liberally use those terms to describe them.

“Rather than use someone’s name or work title, Dr Psaroudakis preferred to make unpleasant and unacceptable references to protected characteristics of colleagues.

‘The Tribunal makes no finding that Dr Psaroudakis is a racist but is satisfied that he is someone who is quite comfortable with using discriminatory language.’

Dr Psaroudakis resigned from his role in September 2022 and his suspension came into force lats month, meaning Dr Psaroudakis will be able to practice again from April.

The tribunal heard how Dr Psaroudakis also made inappropriate comments about a patient whose husband had taken his own life.

It said such comments from a medical professional about a patient’s husband killing themselves were ‘appalling, disrespectful and morally reprehensible.’

Some of the sexually explicit messages referred to ‘lube’ and ‘gregging’ — a sexual act involving a hat, while one sexist email read: ‘if we hire another woman I’m going to kill myself’.

The independent medical tribunal said the three-month suspension reflected the ‘level of seriousness of the misconduct’ and ‘would send out a message to the doctor, the profession and to the public that such conduct is unacceptable’.

‘Dr Psaroudakis admitted his wrongdoing, made full admissions to the allegation, and has taken steps to remediate his actions.

‘He has made genuine expressions of regret, remorse and apology, and not sought to blame others.

‘Dr Psaroudakis self-referred to the GMC and has fully engaged with his regulator and with this process and he cooperated with the GMC by disclosing the emails and messages of his comments when requested. His comments were intended to be private and never meant to be made public.’