Dr Josevania Martins reportedly tried to conceal her profession from him and never let him come to her house.
She was handed a nine-month suspension by an independent medical tribunal earlier this month after prescribing Ozempic and Wegovy to the man, named only as ‘Mr B’, whom she was dating.
During this relationship, she made efforts to conceal her status as a doctor, a tribunal heard.
The panel found she had not only deceived colleagues but had gone as far as to invent the name of a clinic in order to maintain her story, even as she used her professional status to source the diabetic treatment drugs.
Despite her ruse, in the two-month period when Mr B was prescribed the treatments – which contain the appetite-suppressing chemical semaglitude – Dr Martins wrote the prescription herself. But this did not arouse the man’s suspicions. “I thought that was some random doctor,” he told the General Medical Council (GMC).
It was only when Mr B realised Dr Martins was also using a fake name on dating apps that he raised concerns to the GMC.
He later revealed that during the course of their relationship she “never let [him] come to her house”. The tribunal judged that she had invented the clinic to conceal her identity and her address from him.
Dr Martins defended her actions, which she said were “compassionate” and in Mr B’s best interests because his need to lose weight was a “medical emergency”.
According to GMC guidance, medical professionals must avoid prescribing for themselves or anyone they have close personal relationships with. Unlike Ozempic, Wegovy is approved by the NHS for weight loss.
Dr Martins had asked to be kept anonymous and to be treated as a vulnerable witness during the process, but this was denied. The panel added that the doctor had hurt her “unusual” case by not apologising for her dishonesty, though accepted she showed “genuine remorse” later on.
Yet while she went on to accept that her emotional involvement with Mr B had risked blurring her personal and professional life, Dr Martins insisted there was no doctor/patient relationship between them. She also said there was no evidence she meant to mislead anyone and denied that any of her actions amounted to serious misconduct.
The tribunal disagreed, and suspended Dr Martins for nine months to protect the public and give her time to reflect.
Dr Martins runs a private gynaecology and fertility clinic in Hampstead. Having practised medicine in the UK for more than three decades, until now she had enjoyed a “long and unblemished career”, the tribunal added.
