NHS doctor 'told patient she was possessed by evil'
By Amy Iggulden
Last Updated: 2:16am GMT 09/11/2006

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/11/09/nspirit09.xml

"A family planning doctor told a patient that she had "something
sinister" moving in her stomach and needed an exorcism to ward off
evil spirits, a medical tribunal heard yesterday.

Dr Joyce Pratt, 44, informed the young woman that she was being
tormented by black magic and sent her away with crosses and stones to
protect her. She also claimed to have visionary powers and told the
patient that her mother was a witch who was planning to kill her, it
was alleged.

Dr Pratt, who worked for the NHS Westside Contraceptive Services in
Westminster, London, is accused of serious professional misconduct and
was due to face a General Medical Council "fitness to practise" panel
in Manchester yesterday.

NHS doctor 'told patient she was possessed by evil'
By Amy Iggulden
Last Updated: 2:16am GMT 09/11/2006

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/11/09/nspirit09.xml

"A family planning doctor told a patient that she had "something
sinister" moving in her stomach and needed an exorcism to ward off
evil spirits, a medical tribunal heard yesterday.

Dr Joyce Pratt, 44, informed the young woman that she was being
tormented by black magic and sent her away with crosses and stones to
protect her. She also claimed to have visionary powers and told the
patient that her mother was a witch who was planning to kill her, it
was alleged.

Dr Pratt, who worked for the NHS Westside Contraceptive Services in
Westminster, London, is accused of serious professional misconduct and
was due to face a General Medical Council "fitness to practise" panel
in Manchester yesterday.

But she failed to appear, and a summary of the case was read out
before being adjourned for a date to be set.

The panel was told that Dr Pratt left her victim, known only as Mrs K,
"very shaken and intimidated" after a routine consultation.

Mrs K had complained of pain and bleeding. She attended the clinic for
an injection, but was apparently told instead that she was possessed
by an evil spirit and needed religious help.

Dr Pratt then urged her to visit a priest before claiming that her
mother was a witch who was plotting with her husband to kill her, it
was claimed.

The doctor is then said to have boasted to the clinic nurse that she
was a visionary whose special powers had been recognised from an early
age.

The nurse was so alarmed that she told a manager and contacted Mrs K
to ask if she was all right, the tribunal heard.

Dr Pratt is also accused of failing to co-operate with investigations
by her employer and the local primary care trust.

She had apparently refused to provide an up-to-date telephone number
and address, and had not attended at least one previous hearing after
claiming that she was unaware of it.

In a letter read to the panel yesterday, Dr Pratt asked for the
hearing to be postponed because her barristers were "frauds".

The panel will now decide whether to restrict Dr Pratt's work
practices until the tribunal officially opens, but the hearing will
not begin until she secures legal representation.

When a new date for the tribunal is set, the panel will decide whether
Dr Pratt's conduct was "irresponsible, unprofessional, intimidatory to
her patient and liable to bring the profession into disrepute"."

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