Eye surgeon, 59, is cleared of sexual misconduct over relationship with Cam-girl model who accused him of trying to grope her after he hired her to work for him following an operation
- Dr Mark Hulbert, 59, was cleared by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service
- Woman known as ‘Patient A’ was found to be ‘evasive’ and ‘unreliable’ by tribunal
- She had branded him ‘sexy’ and said she wanted to ‘jump him’ in Twitter posts
An eye surgeon who hired his Cam-girl model patient before allegedly trying to grope her has been cleared of sexual misconduct by a medical tribunal – salvaging his 36-year career.
Dr Mark Hulbert, 59, was accused of trying to kiss and inappropriately touch the webcam porn actress – known only as Patient A – after he hired her to work for him as a property agent following a £700 cataract procedure.
The woman also accused Dr Hulbert of bombarding her with sexually suggestive and ‘misogynistic’ messages, in which he called her ‘good girl’, ‘girlie’ and ‘gorgeous woman’.
She also filed a complaint to the private healthcare organisation BMI, claiming the doctor had asked her out for dinner during a consultation and rubbed her thigh ahead of her Phacoemulsification operation.
Hulbert’s practising privileges were initially suspended following Patient A’s complaint before being reinstated two months later.
At the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service this week, Dr Hulbert, of St Albans, Hertfordshire, was cleared of sexually motivated misconduct following a four-year probe which began in 2018.
Investigators said Patient A’s testimony was ‘evasive’ and unreliable.
They also analysed the text messages between Dr Hulbert and Patient A and discovered ‘the vast majority were initiated by Patient A’, who also first began signing off with an ‘x’.
In messages posted under her Cam-girl alter-ego Twitter account, she had said she found Dr Hulbert ‘sexy’, saying he left her ‘tongue-tied’ and that she wanted to ‘jump him.’
Meanwhile, the complaints were mostly after she was hired as a self-employed property manager and were therefore not tied to Mr Hulbert’s role as a medical practitioner.
Dr Mark Hulbert (pictured), 59, was accused of trying to kiss and inappropriately touch the webcam porn actress – known only as Patient A – after he hired her to work for him as a property agent following a £700 cataract procedure.
During the two week hearing in Manchester, a disciplinary panel in was shown a series of Twitter messages posted by the woman on the day she had surgery with Hulbert saying: ‘In the hospital, waiting for my op and I gotta be honest. My Dr in scrubs really turns me on.’
The posts sent under her Cam-girl alter ego page added: ‘He actually kinda leaves me tongue tied. Which is how I know I want to jump him lol. I made sure he saw them. They’re good legs. With Calvin Klein boxers for girls & nothing else but the sexy hospital gown.’
The investigation began after the woman known as Patient A went for a private consultation with Hulbert who works as Consultant Ophthalmologist at the BMI Cavell Hospital in Enfield, North London, and in the St Albans Medical Centre.
In a series of statement the model said at an initial meeting with Hulbert in November 2017, she had disclosed her occupation as a ‘Cam-girl’ but he had ‘smiled at her in such a way as to suggest to her that he liked her.’
She added: ‘It was the kind of smile a guy gives you when he likes you. He asked me to go for dinner with him.
‘He said he didn’t have time to do so that evening but we should go for dinner sometime.
‘I don’t think I really said yes or no, I sort of just went with the flow. He touched my face and swept my hair from my eyes.’
After the Phacoemulsification procedure, the woman claimed Hulbert told her: ‘The doctor’s appointment has ended and this is now a job interview’, before he asked Patient A to meet him the following day at a block of serviced apartments he owned in the area.
He asked her to work for him on a self employed basis, phoning corporate clients and generating business.
In her statement Patient A claimed in one incident Hulbert kissed on the lips and said he ‘wanted to end things’ with his girlfriend.
She said he subsequently offered to go to Patient A’s flat ‘to look at her eyes’ and when she said she was in her pajamas he replied: ‘It’s ok, you can wear less if you like.’
At the Medical Practioners Tribunal Service this week, Dr Hulbert (pictured), of St Albans, Hertfordshire, was cleared of sexually motivated misconduct following a four-year probe which began in 2018
She further alleged Hulbert went to her flat for a drink after finishing work, moved close to her on the sofa and stroked her arm. It was also claimed he asked Patient A if he could ‘see what she did as a Cam-girl.’
In one statement she said: ‘I also recall a further occasion when Mark came to my flat.
‘We both sat on the sofa, when Mark started to get closer to me I knocked my drink over just to get away from him.’
The hearing was showed a series of texts praising Patient A’s work helping get bookings for his rental apartments.
In them Hulbert told the woman: ‘Music to my ears, you gorgeous woman, sleep well, good idea, well done my girl, be a good girl! and absolutely fantastic news girlie.’
One other message he sent whilst he was out with a friend read: ‘Carry on chillin’. I’ll carry on drinking.’
Hulbert denied any sexual impropriety and denied showing an unhealthy interest in Patient A’s work as a webcam model.
He said during the consultation, he had had asked what a ‘Cam-girl’ was only to be embarrassed and he did not take the subject any further.
He said he had been having ‘serious issues’ with the management of his apartments and said the text messages to Patient A arose out of him being ‘pleased’ that she had had property sector skills and was able to work for him.
His lawyer Mr Mark Harries QC said: ‘Although Mr Hulbert has admitted the relevant text messages were inappropriate, this was as a result of them being old fashioned and ill judged, as opposed to being chauvinistic or misogynistic.
‘Although he has plainly let himself down, he had not been dishonest and this simply amounted to good faith failing.’
In clearing Hulbert, MPTS chairman Damian Cooper said: ‘The Tribunal had concerns about Patient A’s oral evidence and found her to be evasive in her answers.
‘On numerous occasions she had to be asked to stop, to allow the question to be asked and to focus on providing her answer to the question rather than volunteering an extensive amount of additional information.
‘Her answers often sought to attribute blame elsewhere and overall, the Tribunal had grave concerns about the reliability of Patient A’s evidence concerning the allegations of sexual motivation on the part of Mr Hulbert.
‘It was clear to the Tribunal that Mr Hulbert’s property development venture was exercising him significantly at the time that he met Patient A.
‘He made it clear as to why he might have been so pleased that someone with appropriate property skills had crossed his path and the reasons why he might have been so amenable at that time to engaging such a person.
‘The Tribunal could find no reason to question the credibility of Mr Hulbert’s account in relation to whether his conduct towards Patient A had been sexually motivated.’
Mr Cooper added: ‘The Tribunal noted that, with the benefit of hindsight, Mr Hulbert recognised that it was unwise to engage in a dual relationship of this kind and has, as a consequence, changed his practice.
In messages posted under her Cam-girl alter-ego Twitter account, Patient A said she found Dr Hulbert (pictured) ‘sexy’, saying he left her ‘tongue-tied’ and that she wanted to ‘jump him.’
‘The Tribunal was in agreement with this sentiment that Mr Hulbert could have managed the situation more carefully.
‘When looking at all of the messages exchanged between Patient A and Mr Hulbert, the vast majority were initiated by Patient A and there appeared to be a significant number more from Patient A than those sent by Mr Hulbert.
‘She sent the very first message in their correspondence and that she included the first ‘x’.
‘This appeared to be a closing feature, used to sign off messages and there were very few texts that related to Patient A as a patient.
‘The relevant text messages were all sent in the context of Patient A providing Mr Hulbert with information in relation to the property business.
‘Mr Hulbert acknowledged the inappropriateness of their contexts in that they were gender specific and patronising.
‘The Tribunal considered that the text messages, were unwise, contained outdated language, and were not appropriate in a modern work context.
‘But the text messages in were sent in response to business information and updates sent to Mr Hulbert by Patient A and not in response to medical or clinical questions posed by her.
‘The Tribunal could not identify a breach of Mr Hulbert’s professional standards as a doctor.’
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