Australia- A CELEBRITY plastic surgeon who allowed a patient to perform oral sex on him before he gave her a nose job is fighting to keep his medical licence.

Martyn Mendelsohn, an ear, nose and throat surgeon who appeared on the medical reality television show RPA, fronted the NSW Medical Tribunal yesterday over allegations he engaged in a sexual act with a female patient.

Dr Mendelsohn, 50, admitted he did not attempt to stop a 22-year-old patient performing oral sex on him during an after-hours consultation in May 2005.

The woman had attended the surgery on a number of occasions and arrived that evening for surgery on her nose, the tribunal heard.

Dr Mendelsohn said he considered telling the patient he could not continue with the operation after the sex act occurred, but decided to go ahead. He then administered four drugs to the patient, and went ahead with the “minor procedure”.

“It was a decision I made that I regret,” he said. “Knowing her nose better than anyone else, I was in a unique position to take care of the problem.”

After the woman left the surgery, she asked her boyfriend to take her to the police, where she pressed sexual assault charges against the doctor.

The NSW Director of Public Prosecution later dropped the charges, on the basis there was no reasonable prospect of a conviction.

At the time of the incident, Dr Mendelsohn told the tribunal he was depressed and not sleeping well and that his wife was ill.

“I think I was probably flattered,” he said. The patient had made a number of flattering remarks. “I think I possibly welcomed those comments and I shouldn’t have.”

Dr Mendelsohn said he understood the patient was angry and disappointed when he told her he could no longer be her doctor after he completed the nose operation.

He told the tribunal the patient responded: “You promised me, you can’t leave me.”

“I owed her a level of commitment,” he said. “She said I owed her to look after her.”

Dr Mendelsohn said the woman never made it apparent “what or how” he owed her, but he understood she believed “there had been a sexual act and (he) had to pay her back”.

Since 2005, all of Dr Mendelsohn’s consultations and procedures have been done under the supervision of a chaperone.

Despite the administrative burden of keeping a full-time nurse on staff to supervise his interaction with clients, Dr Mendelsohn said, “I have been very fortunate to be able to continue practising”.

The patient was asked to give evidence at the tribunal, but declined. The hearing continues.