A doctor who joked that rape victims should “enjoy it” and that an elderly patient should be dead has been handed a warning.

Dr Sameer Khan had been working as a locum consultant in acute medicine at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital when he made the comments to a junior female colleague, a Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service misconduct hearing was told.

Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust confirmed Dr Khan had not worked there since the allegations were made in 2019.

A report on the hearing says Dr Khan accepted he made a comment to the effect of, “If you are being raped, why fight it? Why not enjoy it?”, to a female junior doctor identified as Doctor A.

Dr Alexis Dite, counsel for the General Medical Council, said Dr Khan’s colleagues and seniors “considered that the rape comment alone was outrageous and was enough to end his contract at the hospital”.

The panel found the allegation proved on the basis of Dr Khan’s admission.

However Dr Khan did not accept that he had joked to Dr A that an elderly patient should be dead.

Dr A said Dr Khan had said, when discussing a patient in her late 80s, words to the effect of “how old is she? She should be up there”, and pointed up to the sky.

The panel found the allegation proved, saying it considered Dr A’s account “more credible and convincing” than Dr Khan’s denials.

Mr Chris Gillespie, counsel for Dr Khan, said he accepted that the rape comment amounted to misconduct but that the comment about the elderly patient did not.

He said the comments were not made within earshot of patients or visitors, and were “attempts either to be humorous or to create a more relaxed and informal atmosphere”.

He said Dr Khan has demonstrated insight and remediation and understands the upset he caused.

The panel said both allegations amounted to serious misconduct, but ruled that Dr Khan’s fitness to practice was not impaired on the basis that his behaviour was “remediable”.