News GP on trial for sexual assaults

[barefoot]

I saw this on the news yesterday...a former GP now on trial for molesting 25 patients - many of whom were children/teenagers - over a period of over 20 years.

There’s more on the story here: GP molested 25 patients including one aged nine who asked 'why did the doctor hurt me?', court hears

This cuts close to the bone. I was assaulted by a doctor in the 90s when I had just turned 13. I didn’t ever tell anyone - only my therapist four years ago - let alone report him.

I was in denial about what happened for years and still minimise it a lot and feel pathetic - both for letting it happen in the first place and for still being impacted about something so insignificant.

It’s strange to see in the news that someone is actually on trial for the same things that happened to me and to see the words of the charges. To see some “proof” that what happened to me was actually....illegal!

It’s quite a shock actually. And quite confusing.

I wonder how this will turn out...

 

[Abstract]

So sorry barefoot. I relate although mine was pretty mild and I can't remember a lot. Repeated. Cant read that now but will.

Glad its validated it for you. Know that comes with its own fallout. Understand confusion and shock.

Nothing about it was your fault and you absolutely are not responsible in any way. He abused a position of trust and authority.

 

[barefoot]

Actually, I don’t think this particular article I linked to specifies what the charges are.

They are mainly for indecent assault - which I don’t think exists as an offence in the U.K. now (it’s now sexual assault, I think?) except for in cases of historical assault, which took place when indecent assault was still the name of the offence.

One of his changes is for assault by penetration. I feel a bit stupid....I don’t think I knew that was a specific offence. I’ve just looked it up. Someone found guilty of assault by penetration could face a life sentence.

My head is spinning a bit... I have stood firm with my therapist all this time, for some reason desperately clinging to the belief that what happened “wasn’t that bad”...

Thank you @Abstract - I appreciate your kind words and support. And I’m sorry that you can relate too.

 

[Lucycat]

I was a young adult when I feared being assaulted by a doctor. However I was 'lucky' as bizarrely he asked permission to undo my dress and check my breasts. I refused, that was not why I was there and was totally unrelated. I never saw him again and moved to another doctor. However with the benefit of hindsight I wish I had reported him as inappropriate at the very least. He has since been struck off for actual misdemeanours.

 

[barefoot]

I’m glad that you managed to speak up and prevent anything unpleasant happening, @Lucycat
I wish I had been able to do the same.
Glad too that the doctor involved in your case was struck off.

We can all go back and forth on whether we “should” have reported...
I guess it’s just complicated.

The case I linked to in my OP is causing me some frustration and anxiety as I haven’t been able to find any updates in the news. The story I linked to was in October - that was the case opening. I saw on a court website that the case was on-going at the Old Bailey...I could look it up every day and see that witness 17 had been sworn in and witness 25 had given evidence and whatever. I think I then saw that all evidence had been presented. Perhaps even that the closing statements had been done and the jury were going to consider their verdict. I can’t quite remember the exact last thing I remember reading but it sounded like the evidence part of the trial was over and that the jury were going to deliberate. That was before Christmas. Since then, I haven’t been able to find anything. Nothing on that law pages website, nothing in the news. They can’t surely still be deliberating?! But surely the verdict would have been published somewhere?! Maybe there is some kind of delay? Perhaps something has been pushed back?

I don’t know...I feel very invested in finding out the result, so not knowing and having it hanging feels difficult.

 

[Lucycat]

out the result, so not knowing and having it hanging feels difficult.

I remember, not the case with the doctor I described above, but the court case where my father was being convicted of paedophile crimes. It was so hard wanting to find out and struggling to see anything. It was like it was all secret service . However my local PC was brilliant, and even though she was abroad on holiday, she telephoned me on the day, to update me with the outcome of the trial. She was at one end of Tenerife, and I was on holiday elsewhere in Tenerife when she informed me he'd got 3 years and something. Bizarre is an understatement, but finally I was vindicated.

I am hoping you get the same resolution with the doctors case- and finding out the result.

 

[barefoot]

Thank you @Lucycat

I don’t even know for sure what I want the outcome to be. On the surface of things, I think I want him to be found guilty. If that happens though, I think it’s going to rock me to the core! There will potentially be some emotional fallout for me either way, I think.

So sorry you had to go through that with your father.

What a wonderful PC - sounds like she went above and beyond to support you.

 

[blackemerald1]

It seems he has had a few scrapes with the Medical Panel before he hit the big time with his criminal proceedings/charges.

I wonder how this will turn out..

Depending on the charges - prison.

He abused a position of trust and authority.

Exactly and this carries a heavier sentence than just "normal" offending - if that makes sense.

Maybe the Court adjourned over the Christmas break. Courts often do. That may mean the Jury came back with their verdict and the Judge said 'righto let's pack our shit up and meet back here in February or some date he fixed'. (Or words similar :rolleyes:

The Judge may have done this so he could listen to the defence and prosecution make submissions to the Court re sentencing.

Or, he may have been found not guilty and they all packed up and went home.

If you go back to the Law Lists and see when the matter was last heard you could call the Court and ask what has happened to the case. Or ask them how you can search for the result online and what website to check out. I'd try doing a search in The Old Bailey, Reg v Tutin. I just had a look online and there is a bit of stuff here and there about the case. Or, you can click on the newspaper article "follow" tab and see where that takes you. :hug:

 

[Abstract]

Hi @barefoot.
I tend to still avoid this a bit so credit to you. Appreciate talking to you about it. This is at least one of the "stuff" that I have processed in therapy a little bit.

Can you distract for a few months and only check in then? Maybe rather concentrate on processing some of the memories instead?

I wish I had been able to do the same.

With you there and all that comes with it. With a liberate dose of what I now realise was dissociation. How are you doing now?

 

[blackemerald1]

We can all go back and forth on whether we “should” have reported...
I guess it’s just complicated.

^^Honestly - you are right on the money with this @barefoot.

It's impossible to imagine exactly what it would have been like if you had been able to report your matter. It is equally impossible to predict with any amount of believable certainty what the outcome would have been for you, your loved ones and the perpetrator.

There are huge risks involved with taking matters to Court and the outcomes can be devastating for victims - even at time's more for victims than anyone else. The emotional toll with Court proceedings is vastly underestimated.

 

[barefoot]

It has resurfaced - last Friday and today he is listed on the What’s On at the Old Bailey Today website. It just says, “Mention in the case of Dr Alan Tutin, a GP accused of molesting his patients.” I’m not really sure what that means but at least it hasn’t just disappeared into the ether to never been seen or heard of again...

iPad isn’t letting me quote at the moment, for some reason, so...

@Abstract - I have been trying to leave this alone for the past week or so having been looking it up most days until then. And had decided to try to park it for a while and then have another look later. So, I have mixed feelings about looking it up just now and finding mentions of it in the court now again. I tend to either be in total avoidant mode about these types of things or else ridiculously obsessed - neither of which is helpful! ?

I have a big work thing tomorrow so cannot afford to get very distracted by this today. I very much welcome comments and really appreciate you all talking this through with me here but, if you do leave a comment, apologies in advance that I may not get back to you until after my work thing is over tomorrow. I have loads of prep to do and know I could easily really get engrossed in this case again and derail myself and then end up under loads of pressure tonight when I’m nowhere near ready for the work thing tomorrow!

But anyway, yes, @Abstract - I think you may have a point and that by putting my focus and getting so invested in reading up about someone else’s case it keeps the topic alive for me but, in a way, probably means that I actually avoid processing my own experience...so I just get stuck in this sort of anxious, obsessive rumination...

I did email my therapist with a link to this news story when I first saw it in October and we have very briefly acknowledged it once in session since then but haven’t done any more than that. I think that’s probably because it wasn’t long after my mum had suddenly passed away so we were focused on here and now family stuff. I sort of had in mind that when the verdict came in, that would maybe be the time to bring it up with her because, as I think I said before, I think there could well be some emotional impact for me at that point, whether he is found guilty or not. But, again, deciding to wait for the verdict before I bring it up with my T....maybe that’s just me avoiding as well??

I don’t think I really know what “processing” means/entails. I told my T what happened so she knows the facts. And we have worked together a lot in managing medical things that have cropped up since we’ve been working together, as I realised through therapy that doctor appointments and medical exams/procedures were triggering and generally made me dissociate. But we have never done a deep dive into anything else about it because whenever I even dipped a toe in it, I’d dissociate. Dissociation is much less of an issue now, so maybe now is the time...? But I still don’t really know what processing that experience involves. I assume it’s something to do with engaging emotionally rather than just stating the facts of what happened??

@blackemerald1 - I think the majority of the charges were indecent assault and at least one was assault by penetration (which, until I read that about this case, I didn’t even know existed as a charge - and every time I think about that it makes me head spin!) Some of the patients he is accused of assaulting were adults, some were teenagers...and I think the youngest in this case was only 9 years old. So, yes...if he gets found guilty, he will surely be sent to prison.

He was cleared of the other things you mention before though. So, I don’t know what the verdict is likely to be...

And yes, I hear what you’re saying re reporting and the court process. It’s not really that I would have wanted to go that route of being interviewed by the police and giving evidence in court...the thought of that is...harrowing! But I guess I still wonder whether I should have lodged a complained (even anonymously) with the British Medical Council or something, just in case anyone else had done so or did so in the future for the same doctor...so that I could have provided another piece of the jigsaw puzzle potentially. But..anyway...I didn’t...

 

[Abstract]

And had decided to try to park it for a while and then have another look later.

I don't think you should feel that you have to stay away from it but the delay in the result sounds a bit torturous.

whether he is found guilty or not

Thats something for which to prepare a bit. Just in case it is not guilty. Ironically I searched when you wrote this and found a social media post from 2014 when it seems he was found innocent. Someone being scathing about the accusations.

don’t think I really know what “processing” means/entails

I'm not the best one to put it into words so sure someone will add to it. If you are responding like that then this type of memory isn't fully integrated into memory in a normal way. Its as if they have been incorrectly filed. They are disjointed and not a fully formed narrative that the cognitive centre can process. A lot of it is stuck in the lizard brain as disjointed sensory info. Processing it is about glueing it all back together and filing it away correctly so that it becomes a normal memory. I also find things link up. For example if you experienced anything inappropriate before this then that would change your response to it.

I had been taught to have no boundaries and my go to was dissociation and that essentially left me unprotected. Sure people like this smell that out very quickly.

My experiences:



Mine was "examinations" with inappropriate stuff happening in them accompanied by inappropriate commentary plus some other related stuff. Stomach ache warranted him sitting down and getting me to strip down until had nothing on and walking around the room then stand in front of him while he sat in front of me commenting.

Good luck with your work thing.