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A Harley Street psychiatrist could be struck off after he was found guilty of conducting improper sexual relationships with three vulnerable women patients.
Dr Theodore Soutzos, 45, took them on trips to art galleries and swimming pools and hugged, kissed and texted them between 1999 and 2006. He also had a six-month affair with one woman when he was still her psychiatrist.
A General Medical Council tribunal heard Dr Soutzos then begged the women to lie about the relationships and said revelations about them would “destroy” him and “kill” his mother.
The psychiatrist, who denied the allegations saying he was “like an uncle” to the women, was found guilty of 32 charges by a disciplinary panel, which also ruled that his fitness to practise as a doctor is impaired. The panel will now decide what sanction to impose, which could include striking him off.
One woman threw herself in the Thames after Dr Soutzos ended their relationship. He was working at Guy's Hospital when the 37-year-old woman, known only as “patient A”, was admitted to the psychiatric Maurice Craig ward in January 1999.
She had nearly died at the hands of her violent ex-husband and was a heavy drinker. The panel heard the psychiatrist was “fascinated” by the woman and “unable to take his eyes off the patient”.
Dr Soutzos was “flirtatious” during their consultations. He took her to the National and Tate Galleries and they went swimming together. He showed her how to perform various strokes that “involved touching her”.
The tribunal heard Dr Soutzos picked her up at St John's Wood Tube station and took her back to his flat for sex.
In November 1999 she called the Samaritans helpline and anonymously confessed her relationship with her doctor. After Dr Soutzos left the hospital in December that year, she twice tried to kill herself.
The psychiatrist also sent “inappropriate” text messages to an 18-year-old student patient and kissed her during a date. The teenager had come to see him at the Bowden House Clinic, Harrow, in August 2003.
In September 2003, he admitted he had a “soft spot” for the girl and took her to the National Gallery. But after she tried to end their £300 sessions in 2006, the teenager said he pursued her even more intensely. A third woman, now 26, a former Priory Clinic patient, told the hearing she had a “lovely relationship” with the psychiatrist for six months.
The couple took trips to Vienna and on a trip to Athens Dr Soutzos talked about marriage. But she called off the relationship in Easter 2007. Several months later she was admitted to the Priory after suffering two breakdowns.
Panel chairwoman Eviz Samupfonda said Dr Soutzos's conduct constituted a breach of trust and had brought the medical profession into disrepute. The hearing continues.
