Paramedic told suicidal student he couldn’t wait to have sex with her after rushing her to hospital
Alexander McDowell struck off at tribunal after contacting vulnerable patient on social media
An NHS paramedic told a vulnerable student he could not wait to have sex with her after he had rushed her to hospital.
Former South East Coast Ambulance worker Alexander McDowell, then 27, was called out to the teenager’s home after she tried to take her own life in January 2022.
In March 2022, Mr McDowell messaged the 18-year-old on Instagram saying she looked “familiar” and he remembered her pink-coloured Crocs footwear from her bedroom.
He later told her he could not wait to “f*** her” and got angry when she confronted him about having a girlfriend, a watchdog panel heard.
Mr McDowell was struck off last week after the Health & Care Professions Tribunal Service (HCPTS) found he had committed "seriously sexually motivated misconduct" with a "vulnerable service user".
The tribunal heard the young student, who was not identified, was estranged from her family after growing up with childhood trauma and had depression and anxiety.
After messaging the student on Instagram, Mr McDowell encouraged her to use Snapchat as a “quicker” way of communicating, the panel found.
He then used this to post photos of himself half naked and within a “compositionally posed position” while in bed, the panel heard.
But when the student asked him “if he told all of his vulnerable patients how special they were and planned futures with them to cheat on his girlfriend”, Mr McDowell got angry and blocked her, the panel heard.
The HCPTS said: “The fact of such a sexual relationship, with such a vulnerable individual was, in the Panel’s view, inappropriate and unacceptable conduct. [This] fell far below that expected of a registered practitioner.
“Fellow paramedics, aware of the circumstances in which the Registrant had first encountered [the student] someone who had attempted to take her own life, would fully appreciate she was a very vulnerable individual.
“[Mr McDowell] is recorded as being remorseful, but in his testimony to this Panel there was nothing to indicate that this was the case, nor that he had identified the need for an apology or regret for his conduct.
“It was clear to the Panel that he was still very concerned and angry about the Trust investigation process and the impact it had had upon him.”
A South East Coast Ambulance Service spokesperson said: “We take the safety of patients extremely seriously and our thoughts are with those affected by this case.
“Following a thorough investigation and suspension, this former member of staff, whose actions fell far below the professional standards we expect, was dismissed in July 2022.”