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A pharmacist who was found by a General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) hearing to have abused his position by carrying out an intimate physical examination of a patient without her consent and asking intrusive, explicitly sexual questions has been struck off.

A GPhC fitness to practise committee said Ali Hassan (registration number 2218441) “exploited the imbalance of power between a pharmacist and a patient” by misusing the consultation room and taking advantage of the patient’s “situational vulnerability” while working at Well Pharmacy in Kirkham on March 25, 2024.

Insisting Hassan “abused the special position of trust which he held as a pharmacist”, the committee found he carried out a physical, intimate examination that was “not clinically justified” with the patient because she had already been seen by a medical practitioner.

The patient had been prescribed medication to treat an infection that caused her pain and she went to the pharmacy to collect that medication.

Questions about her sex life

The committee heard that when Hassan called for her to come into the consultation room, she was “immediately concerned that something other than the infection had been detected in her urine sample” and so she entered the room.

Giving evidence, the patient said Hassan asked her questions about her sex life, such as how many times a week she had sexual intercourse, if she performed oral sex on her partner, what positions she had sex and “if the doggy position” made her pain worse.

The patient said Hassan then asked her where her pain was and after she pointed to her lower right back, he replied "the pain is usually here" before running “his finger along her body from the lower part of her back over her hip and ending at a point level” with her pubis.

The committee heard Hassan did this without warning or offering the patient the option of having a chaperone present and his conduct “scared her” and left her “in a panic”. 

“The absence of a chaperone increased her isolation. She experienced humiliation and panic and fled from the consultation room,” the committee said in its report.

Disturbed and upset by what occurred

The patient said Hassan touched her over her clothes and the committee found her account was “consistent and plausible”.

“She was disturbed and upset by what had occurred, leaving the Well Pharmacy and feeling scared as a consequence of what had occurred in the consultation room,” the committee said.

Well Pharmacy investigated the incident and interviewed Hassan as part of an internal investigation on April 18, 2024, after receiving a complaint from the patient. A disciplinary hearing took place on April 29, 2024.

The GPhC committee found him guilty of conducting a “clinically” unjustified physical, intimate examination and failing to explain to the patient why the examination was necessary.

The committee also found Hassan failed to request consent from the patient, did not offer her the option of having a chaperone present, touched her abdomen without her consent and asked her questions relating to her sex life that were not clinically justified.

Those questions included how often she had sexual intercourse each week, the positions in which she had sexual intercourse and whether she or her partner perform oral sex on each other.

The committee found allegations that he asked her if she was sexually active, how many sexual partners she had and if her partner ejaculates inside her not proven.

The committee also found the allegation that Hassan failed to give the patient an opportunity to ask questions unproven. Nonetheless, the committee concluded Hassan’s behaviour “was sexually motivated”.

It found he breached four standards covering pharmacy professionals providing person-centred care, using their professional judgement, behaving in a professional manner and demonstrating leadership.

The committee took into account that Hassan’s “misconduct arose from a single incident” and the fact he had “no previous regulatory findings”. It also received two positive testimonials.

However, the committee found Hassan’s misconduct “was fundamentally incompatible with continued registration” and removed him from the register.