Wodonga doctor Shyamal Datta groped women’s breasts, made sexual comments during consultation

A “pervert” former Wodonga doctor sexually groped two female patients, including squeezing a woman’s breast “like he was honking a clown’s horn”.

A former Wodonga doctor sexually groped two female patients under the guise of medical examinations, including repeatedly “poking around” his victim’s genitals during a pregnancy check-up, a tribunal has found.

Four women went to police with complaints about Dr Shyamal Datta between 2014 and 2016, with police later referring the complaints to the medical regulator, AHPRA.

The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal on Friday found two of the complaints proven, and rejected the other two, following a three day hearing in mid-2021.

Dr Datta, who failed a major exam in 2016 and who is unlikely to ever practice medicine again, adamantly denied any wrongdoing in relation to any of his patients.

Dr Shyamal Datta is unlikely to ever work again following findings about his sexual conduct towards patients (stock image).

In accepting two of the women’s allegations, the tribunal found Dr Datta told a patient she “looked sexy” and, during later consultation, put a stethoscope inside her bra.

“I must have been wearing a low neck top as he got his hand into my bra very easily,” the woman said in a statement to investigators.

“It was a really awkward moment and it took me by surprise.”

The woman said she became suspicious when Dr Datta “grazed” her nipple.

“I recall thinking that there was no way that it was an accidental touch,” she said.

Dr Datta then squeezed the woman’s breast, the tribunal found, while talking to her about breast examinations.

She had not reported any concerns about her breasts to him.

An expert witness said Dr Datta should have examined the woman’s throat, nose and ears, not her breasts.

Dr Shyamal Datta often started his medical consultations by hugging and kissing his patients (stock image).

The tribunal also found proven a separate complaint by another woman, who said Dr called her “very sexy”.

The woman said she spoke to her housemate after seeing Dr Datta for the final time, only for her housemate to pass on the story of a friend, who claimed Dr Datta asked her whether having a pap smear “made her horny”.

During a routine pregnancy check, the tribunal found Dr Datta “poked around” the woman’s genitals while wearing a rubber glove on his hand.

In her statement to investigators, the woman said the appointment ended when Dr Datta “gave me the usual hug and kiss as I left the consultation room”.

“Every time I saw him he asked me to take off my pants and underpants and lie on the bed,” the woman said in her statement.

“Dr Datta would touch my genitals as he had during the consultation when I was six weeks pregnant … Dr Datta never told me why this was necessary.”

The woman said she “started to think he was a pervert” when he told her, after one of the unnecessary genital examinations, that she should “tidy up downstairs”.

The tribunal also found Dr Datta told the woman she should not “pump too hard” during sex.

“I recall these were his exact words, and, as he said them, he made a hand gesture at the same time,” the woman said.

The tribunal found Dr Datta squeezed the woman’s breasts “like he was honking a clown’s horn”.

The case will return to the tribunal at a later date.