Married GP, 78, struck off over 'sex for pills' relationship with patient, 47

14 April 2022, 13:55 | Updated: 14 April 2022, 13:56

A married GP has been struck off after having a relationship with a patient 31 years his junior in exchange for sleeping pills.

Dr Goksel Celikkol, then 55, initiated sex with a 22-year-old patient and in return would prescribe her extra doses of Zopiclone so she could take more than double the recommended daily intake, a tribunal heard.

The GP, who moved to the UK from Istanbul in 1971, first initiated sexual touching with the patient in 1999 during an examination that took place outside of surgery hours.

Celikkol, now 78, then took the patient for lunch at a hotel in Fleetwood ahead of a gig she was meant to be singing at before sleeping with her.

The patient, who has a history of bipolar and suicide attempts, eventually moved to Scotland and registered with another GP in a bid to escape Celikkol, but he continued to prescribe sleeping pills including Prozac and the appetite suppressant Reductil.

Celikkol has claimed the patient "imagined" the affair and denies supplying extra sleeping pills.

The patient never reported Celikkol, who married in 1970 and also served as the club doctor for Blackpool FC, but wrote down her story during a counselling session in 2017.

Police have questioned Celikkol over the allegations but no criminal charges have been brought. He retired in 2018 but was told he will be struck off the register and never able to resume his medical career.

She wrote: "He asked me to take my trousers off and lie on the bed so he could manipulate the joints to work out which ones were really causing the problem.

"But when moving one of my legs his fingers touched me where they shouldn't have. I got a fright but then told myself it must have been an accident. I then admitted how much I was struggling and he increased my antidepressant and asked me if I wanted to go out for lunch.

"I seriously thought he was just being friendly but somehow I found myself in a relationship with the doctor and he would often come over and have sex with me.

"Sometimes we would be lying on my bed watching TV and I would reject his advances and even used to joke that it was his own fault for prescribing me medication that affected my sex drive. Again though, despite me expressing I didn't want to, we always seemed to end up having sex anyway and then he would leave to go home to his family.

"He would give me extra meds when I wanted them so I felt trapped in a situation where I wanted the medication and to end the relationship would end the only release I had from the madness in my mind which was not under control at that point.

"I'd refused to go on lithium because I was too scared it would affect me that I wouldn't be able to do my job on stage so I was going through various combinations of drugs to see what would work best for me. It was during this period when things were out of control I would literally beg him to help me.

"I feel guilt that I ended up involved with a married man who wasn't separated from his wife and deep deep shame that I would allow this to happen for the sake of extra medication to help me when I was struggling."

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"Ms A later gave a statement to police about the GP in which she said: 'I liked him but not to the extent of having sex with him. In terms of my medication, sometimes I would take my prescribed medication for the day.

"But if I was having a bad day, I would contact him and he would come to the house and give me extra medication. Once I had taken the medication, then he would initiate sexual intercourse with me. It was never discussed, but it was unspoken that if he brought me the medication, then we would then have sex.

"It was always Zolpidem that he gave me and it became a situation which I related to if I engaged in sexual activity I would get the medication."

Speaking at the tribunal the woman, now 47, said: "At the time I was in floods of tears and I was asking him to help me as I was very depressed and lonely but Dr Celikkol prescribed me more anti-depressants and asked me out for lunch with him.

"I agreed as I naively thought he asked me as he could see how alone I was, I did not think he would make any physical advances towards me.

"We went to a restaurant and had a nice lunch and when we got back into his car afterwards he kissed me and I was gobsmacked.

"I don't recall any conversation we had, but he was very forceful. I was sitting on the passenger seat and he was leaning right over into the passenger seat so I felt I had no choice but to kiss him.

"I didn't want to have sex but I felt trapped in a situation I didn't know how to get out of because he was also prescribing me medication I really needed at that time."

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"I hated the situation. He was about 30 years older than me so I had no attraction to him whatsoever - I just felt I was trapped in a situation I had no idea how to get out of. I decided the only way to make it stop was to literally leave the country."

A representative of the General Medical Council Chloe Hudson said: "Dr Celikkol was motivated by his own selfish sexual urges towards Patient A. The prescribing and supplying of medication to a patient who had a history of self-harm could have had very serious consequences for her, given that she was able to take double the standard dose of sleeping medication and that she had a history of attempting to take her own life.

"Dr Celikkol was allowing his own sexual self-interest to maintain this patient on medication which she was particularly keen to receive. He used his position over her to make sure the relationship continued."

For confidential support call the Samaritans in the UK on 08457 90 90 90, or visit a local Samaritans branch for details.