Former Herts doctor let off with warning despite racist remark and other misconduct findings

A tribunal found Dr Himanshu Borase, who was lead fertility specialist at the Trust until last year, hugged and kissed a colleague “uninvited”, made an “inappropriate comment of a sexual nature … during a surgical procedure”, and made a “racist” comment to a colleague. The incidents involved three different junior doctors.

The tribunal’s report said the three incidents, which took place in 2019 and 2020, breached good medical practice, amounted to misconduct, and warranted a warning.

Dr Borase did not receive any stronger action because he had expressed “genuine remorse and regret” and “had taken positive steps to address his failings”, including taking online courses on professional boundaries.

In one incident, Dr Borase had been massaging a patient’s uterus during an elective caesarean section when he said to a junior doctor: “That isn’t the only thing that gets hard when you rub it.”

The report from the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service said the joke was “disrespectful to the patient”.

In another incident, Dr Borase had been asked to sign a locum timesheet for another junior doctor when he said: “I shouldn’t because [redacted] people don’t get paid for work.”

Dr Borase accepted it was an “objectively racist” comment directed at a doctor from the ethnic group he had mentioned but claimed he was “trying to emphasise the significant pay disparity between working for the hospital and working in an equivalent locum role”.

The tribunal dismissed the claim and said the comment was “clearly directed to [the doctor] because she was of a [redacted] background”.

Dr Borase’s solicitor said he had now “stopped telling the sort of jokes he had told in the past”.

A further junior doctor, known as Dr A, brought several allegations against Dr Borase, all of which he denied. She had “not wanted to make a complaint but had been persuaded to do so”.

The tribunal concluded, on the balance of probabilities, that Dr Borase had hugged Dr A and kissed her on the cheek but said it was “better characterised as an awkward and clumsy goodbye hug and kiss, rather than an attempt at sexual gratification or the pursuit of a sexual relationship”.

Allegations that Dr Borase had repeatedly offered Dr A drinks at a study day and charity dinner he had organised and had suggested she could stay in his hotel room that evening were dismissed.

The tribunal concluded that Dr Borase had likely offered drinks from a free bar to several attendees and behaved like an “attentive” host.

The tribunal also dismissed allegations that Dr Borase had put his hand on Dr A’s hand and leaned into her back with the front of his body during a transvaginal scan on a patient.

In a further incident, Dr A claimed that Dr Borase told her he had booked her a ticket for a GP dinner and that, when she had asked Dr Borase how much she owed him for the ticket, he had replied it was his “treat” and she could buy him dinner “some other time”.

The panel saw screenshots of text messages between the two doctors, in which Dr Borase had said: “My treat … You can buy me dinner some other time! .. Xx”

But the tribunal found: “The inference drawn by Dr A, that Dr Borase was suggesting they go out for dinner at her expense could not properly be drawn on the evidence.”

Dr Borase had said it was a “friendly gesture” and “he was not suggesting that he and Dr A go on a date”. The tribunal’s report said it was likely “a comment intended to make Dr A feel more comfortable about accepting the ticket from him without payment”.

The tribunal said the offer of a ticket to the event had been in line with references that said Dr Borase had a “generous nature” and said the kisses in two text messages from Dr Borase were what “colleagues might do inadvertently or without giving it much thought”.

An allegation that Dr Borase, while having a cigarette break at a fertility clinic, had said to Dr A “everyone is driven by sex and colleagues could have sex and it doesn’t mean anything,” was also dismissed.

While he denied the allegation, he accepted he may have made a comment as he was “studying for a diploma in psychosexual medicine which included issues such as colleagues having sexual relationships”.

The tribunal dismissed allegations that Dr Borase’s behaviour was “sexually motivated”, and its report said panel members “bore in mind the positive testimonial evidence that attested to [his] good character, including reports of his generally ebullient nature”.

Its report said Dr A “had formed an early view of Dr Borase which had then coloured their later interactions” and that, while Dr Borase’s actions showed an “inappropriate blurring of professional boundaries”, it had not been “an abuse of his senior position”.

Dr Borase qualified in India in 2011 before moving to the UK in 2005, becoming a member of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in 2008 and a consultant in 2014.

He stopped working for West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust in March 2023, and has been working as a locum consultant at the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary since September 2023.

A spokesperson for West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust said: “We take any allegations of inappropriate behaviour very seriously and complaints are managed in line with our robust internal policies.

“We encourage colleagues to raise concerns with us – including anonymously if they prefer – so we can address them and offer any specialist support they may need.”