Sexual Harassment: Story of a Doctor from Europe

23 November 2022

During my first day of work on a surgical rotation, I was introduced to the Vice-Director of the department, a very outspoken man in his sixties. One time, he came behind me during a ward visit and undid my white coat (which had the buttons in the back) and whispered inappropriate comments in my ear. 

Another time, he made little balls out of disposable napkins in the coffee area, and tried to hit my breasts with them while others watched, including my supervisor, a male specialist in his 30s. On a different occasion, he touched my thighs pretending to be interested in my garments. He said “What is this fabric? So elastic!” 

I started to hate going into work. I reached out to an older male resident, who told me, “He is a great teacher. He just loses his mind a bit when it comes to girls. Ignore it”. I was not the only one. He acted like this to other female residents who needed his sign off to progress and have their rotations acknowledged.

In the end, I spoke with a visiting male student from a different country who was also speechless about it. He said, “the foundation year resident who came before you went to the Director and said she refused to work with him.”  The response of the hospital was to swap her schedule. I had nobody to turn to because everybody already knew what was happening and did nothing.