Victims’ bid to get sex pest surgeon struck off register rejected by court

The women sexually harassed by the transplant surgeon James Gilbert have reacted angrily to the news that the court of appeal has rejected an attempt to get him struck off the medical register.

The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service ruled in 2024 that Gilbert’s fitness to practise as a doctor was “impaired” after finding that he had touched women “inappropriately” without their consent and created “an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating and offensive environment” for female surgeons.

The surgeon, who has described himself as the “golden boy” of the Oxford Transplant Centre, was suspended for a year. An appeal by the General Medical Council was dismissed on Friday. The judge said: “There is a distinction between conduct which puts a patient at risk and conduct which is capable of imperilling patient safety but in fact does not.”

The four women who testified against Gilbert at the tribunal said the ruling was “deeply troubling” and a “stark and damning indictment” of the medical regulatory system. They said they were appalled that “a sexual predator – one willing to endanger patient safety and coerce, harass and touch/assault female colleagues – meets the acceptable standard for surgeons and doctors in the UK.”

Prof Vivien Lees, senior vice-president of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, said “urgent” reform was needed. “The current system of medical regulation has too often failed targets of misconduct,” she said. “Instead of delivering justice, it has frequently compounded trauma, allowed perpetrators to remain in positions of authority and ultimately undermined patient care.”

Gilbert’s suspension expired in September 2025 and he is now registered as working at the Royal Buckinghamshire hospital. Last month, he told The Observer he had used his 12-month suspension to “reflect upon and remedy” his behaviours “so as to ensure they never occur again” and he remained “committed to moving forward as the professional colleague” he should be during his return to practice.

Photograph by Natnan Srisuwan / Getty Images