Sex counsellor struck off after stripping naked with patient
A 70-year-old sex counsellor who stripped naked with her patient after taking her to New York has been struck off.
Photo: Getty Images
11:52AM BST 15 Apr 2013
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Over an 18-months Patricia Birch lavished her client with gifts, treated her
to meals out, gave her cash and sent “inappropriate” texts before taking her
to the US for a luxury holiday.
During the trip the woman woke in the middle of the night to find she was
naked in bed with her therapist.
Having no recollection of getting back to the hotel or undressing she feared
that her drink had been spiked, and told the disciplinary panel she felt she
had been "owned in a strange country".
Birch denied the relationship was sexually motivated, but the charges against
her were found proved by a Nursing and Midwifery Council panel.
Chair John Crawley ruled she should be struck off the nursing register.
“Ms Birch's misconduct involved not only an ongoing series of incidents over a
substantial period of time but also exhibited the deliberate behaviour
implied in the panel's finding that she groomed Patient A,” he said.
“By grooming a vulnerable patient for the purposes of sexual gratification Ms Birch's actions are fundamentally incompatible with her remaining on the register.
“This was not an isolated incident, rather it was a deliberate and sophisticated act of grooming that culminated in a trip abroad organised and paid for by Ms Birch.
“During that trip Ms Birch exploited her position of power over Patient A for her own sexually motivated ends.
“Over two years later Patient A continues to suffer stress and nightmares as a result.”
Birch was working for Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust when she first met Patient A in September 2009.
She had been recommended to the patient who was having marriage difficulties with her husband because of her sexuality.
When the patient began seeing a woman, Birch tried to influence their relationship and the patient broke up with her on the counsellor's advice.
The counsellor also discussed intimate details about others she was treating including a gay man and transvestite.
Birch then took the woman, known only as Patient A, on holiday to New York in February 2011, where the pair shared a hotel room, and she gave her $250 spending money.
On their first evening away in Birch told the woman: “There's a lot you don't know about me.”
The patient said: “Pat took me to a transvestite restaurant that she had told me about during the week.
“I felt uncomfortable and we started arguing. We had drunk five or six gin and tonics each and I felt unwell
“I don't remember going back to the hotel that night. But when I woke up at 4am I was naked. I don't recall undressing myself and I'd worn clothes in bed on all previous nights but we were both naked.
“Then we talked. Pat said to me, "This is your time, sweetie" and then she told me that she had never slept with a woman.
“I was concerned my drink was spiked. But she said I just wasn't used to the drink size in New York.”
She said she wanted to go home but Birch suggested having a “hotel room day” while the weather was bad and walked around the room in her underwear.
The woman added: “With the trip to New York I felt like I had been owned in a strange country. I feel that I had been groomed and then dropped as surplus to requirements.”
Birch admitted texting Patient A, giving her gifts, taking her to dinner, allowing her to visit her home, taking her on a trip to New York and providing her with approximately $250.
She denied charges alleging she was naked in front of the patient and making the remark about sleeping with a woman.
The nurse, of Grantham, Linconshire, further denied her actions were sexually motivated.
But all charges against her were found proved by the disciplinary panel.
She did not attend the central London hearing and has indicated she is now retired.
“By grooming a vulnerable patient for the purposes of sexual gratification Ms Birch's actions are fundamentally incompatible with her remaining on the register.
“This was not an isolated incident, rather it was a deliberate and sophisticated act of grooming that culminated in a trip abroad organised and paid for by Ms Birch.
“During that trip Ms Birch exploited her position of power over Patient A for her own sexually motivated ends.
“Over two years later Patient A continues to suffer stress and nightmares as a result.”
Birch was working for Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust when she first met Patient A in September 2009.
She had been recommended to the patient who was having marriage difficulties with her husband because of her sexuality.
When the patient began seeing a woman, Birch tried to influence their relationship and the patient broke up with her on the counsellor's advice.
The counsellor also discussed intimate details about others she was treating including a gay man and transvestite.
Birch then took the woman, known only as Patient A, on holiday to New York in February 2011, where the pair shared a hotel room, and she gave her $250 spending money.
On their first evening away in Birch told the woman: “There's a lot you don't know about me.”
The patient said: “Pat took me to a transvestite restaurant that she had told me about during the week.
“I felt uncomfortable and we started arguing. We had drunk five or six gin and tonics each and I felt unwell
“I don't remember going back to the hotel that night. But when I woke up at 4am I was naked. I don't recall undressing myself and I'd worn clothes in bed on all previous nights but we were both naked.
“Then we talked. Pat said to me, "This is your time, sweetie" and then she told me that she had never slept with a woman.
“I was concerned my drink was spiked. But she said I just wasn't used to the drink size in New York.”
She said she wanted to go home but Birch suggested having a “hotel room day” while the weather was bad and walked around the room in her underwear.
The woman added: “With the trip to New York I felt like I had been owned in a strange country. I feel that I had been groomed and then dropped as surplus to requirements.”
Birch admitted texting Patient A, giving her gifts, taking her to dinner, allowing her to visit her home, taking her on a trip to New York and providing her with approximately $250.
She denied charges alleging she was naked in front of the patient and making the remark about sleeping with a woman.
The nurse, of Grantham, Linconshire, further denied her actions were sexually motivated.
But all charges against her were found proved by the disciplinary panel.
She did not attend the central London hearing and has indicated she is now retired.
