Hearing: GP Ewan Crawford suspended over affair
A sleep disorder specialist who admitted having sex with an insomnia sufferer at his surgery in Edinburgh has been suspended for 12 months.
Ewan Crawford, 53, embarked on a five-year relationship with the "vulnerable" woman despite knowing she suffered physical and psychological problems.
He also treated the patient's husband and two sons at Murrayfield Medical Centre in Edinburgh during the affair, the General Medical Council disciplinary hearing was told.
The panel, sitting in Manchester, ruled that Dr Crawford's fitness to practise was impaired because of his misconduct.
The GP first had sex with the woman, referred to as Patient A, in 2001 while she was registered at the practice as his patient.
He admitted he engaged in sexual activity with her at his medical centre in September 2005, and their sexual relationship ended a year later.
The doctor, whose full name is Christopher Ewan Hamish Crawford, neglected to inform his colleagues about the affair, the panel heard.
His behaviour was "inappropriate and irresponsible" and breached his patients' trust, the panel ruled.
"You breached the boundaries that a doctor must maintain with their patient and undermined the trust that the public are entitled to place in the medical profession," the panel said.
Dr Crawford had known the woman for 17 years, having worked with her in the early 1980s. Their affair began after a chance meeting at a social event unconnected with his medical practice and this was a mitigating factor, the panel said.
Nearly 100 written testimonials in support of the doctor were submitted from doctors, other professional colleagues and patients.
The doctor's affair with the woman began after he met her by chance "on a German school trip evening," she told the panel.
She said: "Dr Crawford did not make any advances to me at work. I do not believe that I have been made vulnerable because of Dr Crawford as our relationship was independent of his job."
The woman was actually his colleague's patient at the practice, and Dr Crawford only treated her twice.
She said: "I did not want to see Dr Crawford as a patient as I felt that it would compromise our situation. I did not want to compromise what we had.
"On more than one occasion, I asked to leave the practice and Dr Crawford told me that it would not be a good idea as I had an ongoing medical condition and Dr Turney was giving me excellent care."
On the first occasion he treated the woman, he prescribed her an anti-insomnia drug, and the other time was an emergency while he was the on-call doctor.
The panel will meet again before the end of the one-year suspension to decide whether to take further action.
