A PHYSIOTHERAPIST faces being struck off after being accused of trying to rape a patient.
It is claimed that Albert Constable, 53, attacked one woman and acted “inappropriately” to another during treatment in the late 1990s.
The shamed physiotherapist, from Bothwell, Lanarkshire, has already been found guilty of misconduct towards patients in 2008.
After the case he was arrested by police when more allegations came to light.
Charges against Constable were dropped but he is nowdue to appear infront of the Health Professionals Council (HPC) tomorrow (Wed) and faces being struck off.
Constable is accused of treating a patient in 1998 on three occasions for back pain.
It is alleged that on the second occasion he massaged the backs of her arms and pushed her bra straps down over her arms.
It is also claimed that he pushed his fingers
“down between the insides of her arms, moving towards her breasts’ and that he did not respect her privacy by leaving the treatment room to allow her to get dressed.
At the end of the third treatment session it is claimed that he restrained the patient against her will and said something similar to
“There is more than one way to pay.”
On another occasion between April 1998 and April 1999 it is alleged that he gave another patient a massage that was not for
“therapeutic purposes’ and insisted thatshe removed her top.
It is claimed by the HPC that Constable’s actions were
“sexually motivated’ and that Constable didn’t tell it of the 2009 police probe.
At the time he was serving a one-year professional ban for previous allegations of misconduct.
In 2008, while working at a Larkhall doctor’s surgery, Constable was found guilty of running his finger over a patient’s ankle, calf, thigh, bottom, lower back, upper back and shoulder.
He was also found guilty of asking the patient whether she was
“tickly’ and told her
“you’re no fun’ when she said no.
In another incident he failed to communicate effectively with a patient and bent down so that his head was level with her groin.
It was found by the HPC that Constables conduct “fell well below the professional standard required of him”.
The body also found that he showed “a lack of respect for the patients’ dignity”.
The hearing had been told by one of his patients that she found her visits to the physiotherapist in January 2003 “traumatic”.
