‘Saddened’: Dr Osborne said his behaviour had been irresponsible
The younger brother of Chancellor George Osborne has been struck off the medical register after a two-year sexual relationship with a vulnerable patient.
Psychiatrist Adam Osborne, 39, threatened the mother-of-two when she reported him, telling her: “I will make sure you pay”.
The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) ruled that his fitness to practise was impaired by reason of misconduct and that the married doctor’s behaviour was “profoundly unacceptable”.
Dr Osborne did not attend the four-day disciplinary hearing in Manchester which heard how the woman – referred to as Patient A – took an overdose of alcohol and prescription drugs in an attempt to end her own life two days after he broke off the relationship in an e-mail.
Dr Osborne, who has been helping Syrian refugees in Calais, qualified as a doctor in 2004.
He admitted all the allegations.
He had been treating Patient A at a private practice in central London for depression, anxiety and chronic fatigue between February 2011 and late 2014.
Read more:Adam Osborne admits having sex with vulnerable patient
Following the split in February last year, the woman told him: “I’m very much balancing on the edge and it’s so easy for me to tip over just now.”
Despite knowing of her fragile state and suicide attempt, he bombarded her with threatening emails over a 10-day period begging her to retract her complaint.
He pleaded: “You still have the power to tell the GMC that you made this up because you were angry at me for discontinuing therapy or that you were confused, paranoid, deluded – whatever excuse you can think of.
“If I get into trouble for this then I will never forgive you for this and I will make sure you pay.”
Another email read: “Please don’t do this to me, it will destroy me and my family in public.”
The tribunal was told that Dr Osborne’s wife knew about the woman.
Begging: Dr Osborne bombarded the woman with emails
His counsel Julian Woodbridge said: “Dr Osborne accepts that he did engage in an inappropriate relationship with the patient, Patient A, and he apologises for his conduct in this respect.
“Dr Osborne also accepts that after he tried to end the relationship he did subsequently send a number of inappropriate emails in a moment of panic. Again he apologises and much regrets any further distress.”
Panel chairman Dr Nigel Callaghan said Dr Osborne’s actions were not “easily remediable” and that the affair was “profoundly unacceptable”.
He added: “Having determined that neither conditions nor a suspension order would adequately reflect the seriousness of the tribunal’s findings on impairment it determined that Dr Osborne’s name should be erased from the medical register.
Read more: Chancellor’s brother begged mistress not to report him
“The tribunal considers that erasure is the only appropriate sanction which will protect patients and maintain public confidence in the profession.
“His behaviour towards Patient A has caused her harm and the tribunal could not be satisfied that there would be no repetition of this misconduct.
“The tribunal has determined that Dr Osborne has shown a blatant disregard for the fundamental tenets of the medical profession.”
In 2010 Osborne was suspended from practising medicine for six months after writing fraudulent prescriptions for a girlfriend, a family member and an escort girl whilst a psychiatry trainee at Wythenshawe Hospital in Manchester.
It was found that Dr Osborne had “behaved dishonestly” after attempting to obtain anti-psychotic medication for a cocaine-addicted woman he had been seeing while his partner was away.
In a statement, Dr Osborne said: “It was never my intention to hurt anyone although I can now clearly see that my irresponsible behaviour has led to a great deal of distress to the people that I care about, in particular my family and the patient in question.
“I realise that there is never any justification for breaking the boundaries of established good medical practice in regards to the doctor patient relationship, and it is never in the best interests of the patient to do so.
“I have found medicine to be a very rewarding and fulfilling career and I am very saddened that this career is now inevitably over.”
He added that he had not contested the allegations and fully accepted the findings of the panel.
Osborne’s psychiatrist brother struck off over ‘profoundly unacceptable affair’ with patient added by manchesterusersnetwork on
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