A transplant surgeon accused of sexually harassing and inappropriately touching four female colleagues has said he tickled a trainee "in the waist area".
James Gilbert, 47, is accused of sexually harassing and inappropriately touching four female colleagues at the Oxford Transplant Centre.
It is also alleged he made racist comments and abused his senior position on various dates between 2009 and 2022.
Giving evidence on Monday, the father-of-two told a Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) panel he “never had any desire” to touch anyone sexually in the workplace.
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He conceded that he would inappropriately tickle a trainee, known as Ms E, when she was alone and without her consent, but he did so in what he considered was “a fun, friendly relationship”.
He said: “My memory was I tickled her in the waist area. It was something at that time I recall doing to a number of people, male and female. Foolish play, messing around. Nothing more than that.”
He also admitted grabbing and massaging Ms E’s shoulders in the surgical theatre to “relax her” before operations.
He said: “As I look back at the man I was, I know I didn’t have a proper grasp or understanding of professional boundaries and the power dynamic between consultant and trainee.
“As the years have gone on, I realise it was wholly inappropriate and it is behaviour that I stopped a long time ago.”
Chloe Hudson, for the General Medical Council, asked the doctor if it was “simply coincidence” that another trainee, Ms A, said he grabbed her waist too, and ran his hands up and down her body, from her hips to her bra line.
Mr Gilbert replied: “I have never tickled or touched Ms A at any time,”
Ms Hudson said: “Ms A recalled pushing you away and telling you to get off her.”
Mr Gilbert said: “I have never been pushed or shrugged off by her or ever told to get off her. Those are the sort of things I would remember.”
The doctor admitted to the tribunal he had asked Ms E during a “one-off conversation” among colleagues if she was wearing matching underwear.
He said: “There would have been times in the operating room when underwear conversation has occurred, and I was part of this and I regret it. It was foolish and inappropriate, and I apologise for that.”
He said organ retrievals would generate “jokey” conversations about consultants “always needing back-up underwear” when they could get “soaked” during such procedures.
Mr Gilbert added: “Then there had been dialogue about people’s underwear preference, which I regret. I realise it’s a highly inappropriate conversation. It didn’t need to be had.”
Ms E said she was subjected to remarks about her underwear “half a dozen times”, including when they were alone on a stairwell, the tribunal has heard.
Ms Hudson said: “Whether or not she is wearing matching underwear, would you agree that has the potential to give the impression that you are thinking about whether she is wearing matching underwear?”
Mr Gilbert said: “I agree it could give that impression. That was never my intention.”
Ms Hudson said: “Do you agree that asking if underwear is a matching set may be interpreted that you would like to see whether it was?”
Mr Gilbert said: ” I never had any sexualised thoughts about colleagues in the workplace. My sexualised thoughts have been exclusively at home with my wife of 26 years.”
He denied he was sexually motivated when touching Ms E’s knees under the operating table, and denied he had ever squeezed her thigh between his thighs.
He said: “I accepted I knocked her knees and many other people’s knees.
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“When you are doing a vascular procedure you are purely focused on what is in front of you and the micro-surgery you are doing.
“You can’t see underneath the table. Knees knock all the time. I’m a fairly tall fellow and I’m aware I’m taking a lot of space under that table.”
Ms Hudson suggested: “You built up to squeezing and then became brazen and squeezed her thigh, didn’t you?”
Mr Gilbert said: “I have never squeezed her leg between my legs or knees, I have never had any desire to be touching anyone. I was fully focused on doing surgery for these patients.”
The hearing continues on Tuesday.
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