Sleep doctor admits sex with insomnia patient

Dr Ewan Crawford, 53, embarked on a five-year relationship with the woman despite knowing she suffered from physical and psychological problems.

During their affair he also treated the patient's husband and two sons at the Murrayfield Medical Centre in Edinburgh, a General Medical Council disciplinary hearing was told.

The GP first had sex with the woman, referred to as Patient A, in 2001 while she was registered at the practice as his patient.

On one occasion, in or around September 2005, he admitted to the fitness to practise panel that he engaged in sexual activity with Patient A at the medical centre.

The doctor, whose full name is Christopher Ewan Hamish Crawford, also neglected to inform his colleagues about the sexual relationship, which ended in September 2006.

In May 2004, he prescribed zopiclone – a drug used to treat insomnia – to the woman.

The panel, sitting in Manchester, ruled that the details of the GMC's case against him and the patient's evidence should be heard in private because of health grounds.

Panel chairman John Donnelly said the facts were proved and the panel now needed to determine if Dr Crawford's fitness to practise was impaired because of his misconduct.

The hearing is expected to last up to nine days.