Three weeks ago, a tribunal found that a former RACP president had inappropriately touched seven female doctors under his supervision — both interns and registrars.

Associate Professor Leslie Bolitho’s behaviour had occurred between 2014 and 2018 and perhaps because of this, his reputation for failing to respect the personal boundaries of female doctors was known to some staff.

It is worth quoting the testimony of one of the doctors to provide insight into what was happening.

She told the hearings that about eight weeks into her rotation as an intern, she had been with him on a ward round where he had walked past her and grazed her backside with the flat of his hand as she wrote patient notes at the end of a hospital bed.