Patient found out he’d been victim of disgraced doctor five years later in NHS letter
A patient says he has "lost all trust" in the NHS after finding out he’d been a victim of a disgraced doctor via a letter - five years after it happened.
Peter, whose identity ITV News is protecting, was treated by Dr Luliu Stan in the emergency department of Royal Cornwall Hospital.
Dr Stan has since been found to have subjected patients to unnecessary intimate procedures, including the administration of rectal medication, for his own sexual gratification.
He was struck off the UK medical register earlier this year for misconduct, after an investigation by the General Medical Council and a tribunal.
A previous investigation by the Royal Cornwall Hospitals found Dr Stan had prescribed and administered rectal medication on over 200 occasions - sometimes giving it to the same patient multiple times.
Peter was informed he had been a victim of Dr Stan when he received a letter from the hospital five years after his treatment.
He now lives with the knowledge he may never get answers about what really happened to him. He says he is angry, upset and now needs medication to "numb" those emotions.
"The trust I have now with the NHS has gone," he said. "For days after, I was trying to think back to that time I was in hospital, trying to think about every detail."
Peter was being treated in the emergency department. He was administered pain relief by Dr Stan in the form of a suppository, and then told to sleep.
He said: "There was no offer of a chaperone. After the medicine was prescribed, and being taken into this dark room and told to go to sleep, my biggest fear is what happened afterwards? I still don’t know to this day. I did fall asleep, but I don’t know what happened after that."
In January 2024, a number of patients were told by the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust that details of their treatment would form part of the tribunal hearing.
In July, the trust wrote to another group of former patients, including Peter, to tell them Dr Stan had given them rectal medication when they were in hospital, and that in other cases the tribunal had found his actions had been sexually motivated.
Peter says receiving that news by letter was "horrible" to deal with.
He said: "I have angry moments, I’ve actually gone on to medication now to try and numb it down a bit. It leaves you angry, upset and it causes you a lot of stress as well. I’m probably never going know what actually happened, and I think that’s going to be the hardest part to live with."
Dr Stan qualified in Romania in 2007. His was a Locum Senior House Officer in Trauma and Orthopaedics for the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust between 2017 and 2020.
A number of legal firms have now taken up the cases of patients treated by Dr Stan. Enable Law in Truro is representing over 25 patients involved, including Peter. It’s calling for immediate counselling support to be put in place, and an independent investigation into hospital practices.
Solicitor Mike Bird told ITV News: "There needs to be some independent scrutiny of what happened and how it can have happened for so long. There were policies and guidelines in place that were ignored by this doctor for five years, and he seems to have managed to conceal it from all his work colleagues for five years, and that’s quite difficult to believe.
"What we say is that because of that, there needs to be independent scrutiny, and I’m afraid it’s not enough we say for the trust to look into it themselves. They’ve got to have somebody impartial and independent leading that investigation."
A spokesperson for the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust said: "We are completely committed to openness and candour and take our responsibilities to the former patients of Dr Stan very seriously.
"We are deeply sorry for the distress caused by his serious professional misconduct and his abuse of the trust placed in him by patients. We want to reiterate our apology to everyone impacted by these distressing events. Our paramount priority is to support those impacted by his actions.
"We have written to former patients of Dr Stan to provide them with the opportunity to speak with our team to access psychological support and counselling, tailored to their individual needs.
"We would urge any patient concerned about the care they received from Dr Stan to contact our team on rcht.patientexperience@nhs.net. In addition to supporting patients, we are working closely with safeguarding services and the police regarding their ongoing enquiries into the practice of Dr Stan."