Dudley GP facing sexual assault allegations 'should have referred patients on'
A medic accused of sexually assaulting his patients during treatment should have referred the women to specialists, a court has heard.
Dr Jaswant Rathore maintains he performed 'manipulation therapy' to help female patients who came to him complaining of body pain.
But Dr Stephen Hicks told Wolverhampton Crown Court he had never met a GP who had decided to carry out the treatment themselves.
Instead, the usual practice would be for GPs to diagnose their patients and then refer them to physiotherapist for therapy, he claimed.
Taking the stand, the expert witness for the prosecution said: "We're not trained to do it in medical school.
"Essentially, there are other practitioners who are trained and are, therefore, more skilled. There really isn't a need [for GPs to do it].
"I have met with many general practitioners and I have never come across a general practitioner that practices this type of arrangement.
"In my view, there is nothing I have seen that would suggest to me [or] that would give me any confidence that he was qualified or skilled at performing these treatments."
Rathore, of Ploughmans Walk, Wall Heath, denies 18 counts of sexual assault between November 28, 2008, and March 26, 2015.
Prosecutors allege the 60-year-old attacked eight female patients, who cannot be named for legal reasons, while he was at the helm of the medical practice.
Giving evidence on Tuesday, Dr Hicks said it was also unusual for GPs to personally call their patients after missing appointments - as the prosecution allege Rathore did.
He told jurors: "Ringing patients because they missed an appointment or there is an appointment upcoming, in my experience, is quite unusual. The practice tend to do it."
During the trial, prosecutor Ms Heidi Kubik told the court Rathore assaulted the women to fuel his ‘illicit sexual desire’.
He told patients he needed to carry out the treatment to alleviate their body pain but instead sexually assaulted the unsuspecting women, she alleged.
The prosecutor said patients also trusted the family doctor, who had been at the surgery since 1986, when he advised them his medical examinations were necessary.
Rathore told interviewing officers touching of the women was 'medically appropriate' and he had acted professionally during appointments with patients, Ms Kubik revealed.
The trial continues.
