Doctor admits inappropriately messaging teenage patient he met at a children’s hospital
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Exclusive: Dr Cian Hughes began messaging a child at Bristol Children’s Hospital when she was 13. A doctor has admitted to inappropriately messaging a vulnerable teen who he met in a hospital, and later went on to have a sexual relationship with. Dr Cian Hughes, who lists himself as research scientist at Google on LinkedIn, began privately messaging the 13-year-old while she was a patient at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children. Dr Hughes, who was a 23-year-old medical student at the time, had been present during surgery on the young patient and later approached her about a research project, a tribunal heard.
![[A view of the Bristol Royal Hospital for Children where Dr Hughes first met Patient A]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/16/10/PA-19027051.jpg)
Dr Hughes used his private email address to email the girl copies of her X-rays, and this began a chain of communication that ultimately led to a sexual relationship between them when the girl was 17, the tribunal heard. The General Medical Council (GMC) brought a case against the doctor saying that he used his professional position to pursue an inappropriate relationship with the vulnerable patient. Dr Hughes has admitted that he sent inappropriate messages to Patient A, who is anonymised in the hearings, and admitted to engaging in sexual activity with her before her 18th birthday.
However, Dr Hughes denied that he was pursuing an improper emotional relationship with the girl before December 2013, when she was 16. Tribunal judges ruled on Wednesday that he did not use his position to pursue her, or that he was aware the patient had developed personal feelings for him, up to that point.
