A doctor who gave vaginal examinations to two women due to have their tonsils removed was acting according to a medical textbook, his counsel suggested to Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Mr Martin Giblin SC said his client was working from a textbook which stated that in certain instances all bodily systems must be examined before an operation. Nurse Catherine Murphy, acting night sister at the time of the alleged assaults, said she had worked for 12 years in Ireland and Saudi Arabia and had not known of a precedent for vaginal examinations before tonsillitis operations.
It was the fourth day of the trial of the 35-year-old anaesthetist who denies sexually assaulting two women at the Mater Hospital, on July 28th, 1997.
Nurse Murphy agreed it was standard practice for a nurse to accompany a doctor while he performed a vaginal examination. She agreed she was used to the Pakistani accent from other doctors. She had first met the defendant that night and had to ask him to repeat some words. At times he didn't appear to be taking in what was being said to him.
Earlier Nurse Murphy said the doctor told her he didn't use surgical gloves while doing the vaginal examinations because surgical gloves were not freely available in his country.
Nurse Murphy told the jury she was present when the woman's mother, who was very distressed, confronted the doctor.