A group of women who worked at Harrods are to file a complaint against a doctor accused of conducting “intrusive” medical exams, according to a former employee who claims she was sexually assaulted by the store’s former owner, Mohamed Al Fayed. The women will make the formal complaint to the General Medical Council regarding examinations carried out by Dr Ann Coxon, one of at least two doctors who are said to have been involved. Another doctor, Wendy Snell, has since died. Many of the women interviewed for a BBC documentary and podcast Al-Fayed: Predator at Harrods said they underwent medicals, including invasive sexual health tests, when joining the London store.
Mr. Al Fayed, who died last year aged 94, is also accused of multiple rapes and sexual assaults by former Harrods workers, several of whom have come forward to report their experiences to the media since the recent broadcast. Natacha, one of the Justice for Harrods survivors group, said that Dr Coxon had questions to answer over the medical exams she carried out on behalf of Mr Al Fayed. Highlighting that the examinations were “intrusive and wholly unnecessary”, Natacha claims the tests led to employees’ confidential medical information being passed on inappropriately.
The group of former employees has vowed to ensure the allegations are investigated following their complaint to the General Medical Council. Niall Dixon, the former chief executive of the GMC, stated that doctors in the UK “should not share information about a patient without their consent, and even in circumstances when it was disclosed to an employer it was usually very restricted.” He said that doctors hearing about the Harrods allegations would be “utterly horrified because trust is at the absolute centre of that doctor-patient relationship”. A spokesperson for the GMC declared that the allegations against the medical staff were “deeply concerning.
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