HELSINKI - A FINNISH doctor who said he sucked a patient's nipple in line with an old midwives' diagnostic trick has been fined for subjecting the 20-year-old woman to a 'sexual act', a court said on Wednesday.
Two lower courts earlier ruled that the doctor, who insisted he had obtained the patient's permission, had not committed a crime.
But overturning those rulings, the Finnish Supreme Court said in a statement that the hospital doctor had been sentenced to 'a fine and compensation for sexually taking advantage of a patient and violation of his professional duty'.
The doctor said that he merely used the technique to diagnose a medical problem in accordance with the long-established midwives' practice during a 2007 appointment for an ultrasound breast exam.
The court added that it considered 'it proven that it was indeed a sexual act'. The doctor was ordered to pay a fine of approximately 80 days' salary. He must also pay the woman 1,200 euros (S$2,040) in compensation, less than half the 3,000 euros she had requested.
The court said it had decided not to impose a higher penalty because 'it was an isolated act perpetrated against an adult plaintiff.'
Source: ST Online/AFP
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