Dr. Giovanni Miniello, a gynecologist from the Italian city of Bari, is being accused of offering to have sex with a patient while claiming that it would cure the human papillomavirus (HPV) she supposedly had, the New York Post reports citing Newsflash and local media.
According to the newspaper, Miniello, also known as “Dr. Magic Flute”, told the patient, a 33-year old woman, that she appeared to have HPV, which can be transmitted through sexual contact and may cause cancer; making this claim even though the woman’s Pap smear test came negative.
"I have saved many women from cancer. All those I have had contact with were negative afterwards," he reportedly told her.
The woman, however, opted instead to contact La Repubblica newspaper, claiming that the doctor touched her breasts inappropriately and saying that she was shocked when Miniello proposed to have sex with her when she asked him for Pap smear test results.
She also contacted "Le Lene", an investigative news programme that hired an actress to pose as a patient in a bid to verify the claims brought against Miniello.
The gynecologist reportedly told the actress that hints of HPV presence have been found in her cervix, and claimed that having sex with him would provide the woman with immunity, due to him being vaccinated. He also allegedly told her that using a condom would interfere with her receiving his antibodies.
When the half-naked doctor, who apparently thought he was about to have sex with the "patient", was suddenly confronted by a journalist, Miniello reportedly said: "I’m doing this for my studies — and for the other people that I have saved."
“I, who have successfully treated hundreds of women for over 40 years … only proposed an alternative treatment that has yielded results,” the doctor said through his lawyer.
Miniello also reportedly insisted that he never forced women into having sex with him.
A number of women has since contacted the Anti-Violence Center in Bari, saying that they “gone through a similar situation”, said the centre’s coordinator Marika Massara.
"Some consider reporting it, others are afraid, also because the level of secondary victimisation we are witnessing is very high," she added.
An investigation has also been initiated by the city’s public prosecutor, the newspaper notes.