Dr Cian Hughes is now one of Google’s top researchers into the use of AI in medicineThis article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more
Bristol Children’s Hospital(Image: BPM MEDIA)
A doctor who embarked on an inappropriate relationship with a teenage patient after meeting her at Bristol Children’s Hospital has been suspended for a year, but not struck off permanently.
Dr Cian Hughes, who is now works for Google in Dublin and is a leading global figure in the research of using AI in healthcare, first met the girl when she was just 13 and having an operation at the children’s hospital back in March 2011.
He was a 23-year-old fourth-year medical student at the University of Bristol at the time and began to exchange messages with the vulnerable girl, known as ‘Patient A’, after she was discharged and he stopped being part of her care team.
Those messages continued until she was 16 in December 2013 when he admitted that he became ‘aware Patient A had developed personal feelings for him’. Their relationship continued and became a sexual one in 2014.
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A series of thousands of messages presented to an independent Medical Practitioners Tribunal revealed that Dr Hughes had researched the guidelines and laws about doctor-patient relationships and ‘persuaded himself’ that he would not be breaking the law or breaching the guidelines if they waited until she was 18 before they had sexual intercourse.
The relationship fizzled out in 2015 when Dr Hughes got a job working for Google as a medical researcher, but in 2020, Patient A, by now in her early 20s, went to the police to report what had happened to her.
Police investigated but Dr Hughes was not the subject of a criminal prosecution, and the case was handed over to the General Medical Council, who eventually brought the matter to a tribunal which took place in January this year.
Dr Hughes admitted many of the charges against him, while the tribunal found others not proven, but overall the tribunal ruled his fitness to practice was impaired because of his misconduct.
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The tribunal was adjourned until this week, when it reconvened to decide what level of sanction Dr Hughes should receive.
The General Medical Council’s advocate called for full ‘erasure’ of Dr Hughes from the medical register – he would be struck off and barred from practising or being registered as a doctor for life.
“Although the misconduct occurred more than ten years ago, it was of such an unacceptable and serious nature that members of the profession and the public would be shocked and concerned,” said Colette Renton, for the GMC.
Dr Hughes’ KC argued that there were mitigating circumstances, including the length of time since the relationship, that both parties said they were in love with each other at the time, and the glowing references for Dr Hughes in the ten years since and his work at the cutting edge of AI’s use in medicine. Rebecca Harris KC argued that a more appropriate sanction for Dr Hughes would be suspension of his registration, rather than being struck off completely.
Today, Wednesday, the tribunal panel agreed, and suspended Dr Hughes for 12 months. The suspension will come into force in 28 days.
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