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Doctor prescribed an ‘exorcism’
A FAMILY planning doctor has been suspended after she prescribed an exorcism.
Dr Joyce Pratt, while working in a contraceptive clinic in Vincent Square, Victoria, diagnosed a session of ritualistic healing to a woman during a routine appointment, a medical tribunal found.
She was suspended for six months after a tribunal heard she told the patient, who had complained of stomach pains, that a “witch was trying to kill her”.
The 44-year-old suggested she see a priest in Westminster Abbey and furnished her with incantation stones and a holy cross.
Stephen Brassington, chairing the General Medical Council investigation, yesterday (Thursday) imposed a six-month suspension taking immediate effect.
He said Dr Pratt’s overall conduct fell “well short of the standards expected of a registered medical practitioner and represents a serious breach of the principles that are central to good practice”.
He said the patient, referred to as Mrs K throughout the hearing, was too “anxious and distressed” to give evidence.
The GMC panel heard how on July 20 2004 Dr Pratt in the South Westminster Health Centre prescribed holy water and produced a vial from her desk.
She then read from a Bible and said prayers over Mrs K’s stomach and gave her wooden crosses to “ward off evil”.
She claimed she had healing powers that could be transferred “through the post and by telephone”.
The GMC panel heard evidence from a nurse who claimed Dr Pratt had offered the patient £20 to make the calls.
The GMC said Dr Pratt had failed to co-operate with inquiries into her behaviour by her manager and the primary care trust.
Dr Pratt, who now lives in Birmingham, did not attend the hearing or provide herself with any legal representation.
The GMC decided she had acted in a manner liable to bring the medical profession into disrepute.
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