Former Bristol doctor suspended after relationship with teen patient

Dr Cian Hughes has been suspended from practising medicine after having a sexual relationship with a patient he met at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children. Hughes is now one of Google’s leading global experts on the development and application of Artificial Intelligence in medicine.

The Story came to a head when ‘Patient A’, who is now in her early 20s, reported the relationship to the police.

The Irish doctor met ‘Patient A’  in March 2011, when she was 13 and he was a 23-year-old fourth-year medical student at the University of Bristol. Hughes was asked to support Patient A’s Operation, consequently forming a friendship with her.

The pair began a sexual relationship in 2015, when she was 17.

Bristol Royal Infirmary, via X @Deborah12pax

An Independent Medical Practitioners Tribunal that commenced in January 2025 and ended last week were called to determine the fate of Hughes’ career.

The tribunal heard that Dr Hughes left Bristol in December 2013, 4 years after meeting Patient A, but continued messaging her. It was around that time he became “aware Patient A had developed personal feelings for him.”

A series of messages were presented to an independent Medical Practitioners Tribunal that revealed Dr Hughes had researched and laws surrounding doctor-patient relationships. After such research, Dr Hughes waited until the patient was 18 to have sexual intercourse with her, to evade legal consequences.

Dr Hughes has not been the subject of a criminal prosecution, but the case was handed over the the General Medical Council, who took the matter to a tribunal in January.

Dr Hughes admitted many of the charges against him, but overall, the tribunal ruled that he could continue as a doctor after a year’s suspension.

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However, Collette Renton, a GMC (General Medical Council) advocate, said that the case was so serious that the most appropriate consequence was full “erasure” off the medical record.

Ms Renton continued: “Patient A’s age and vulnerability, along with the power imbalanced dynamic of this relationship and Dr Hughes’ awareness of the risks of their relationship being in breach of the GMC guidelines are four aggravating factors.”

However, Rebecca Harris KC argued that Dr Hughes should remain on the doctors’ register after his suspension period. She claims that there are many migrating factors, including his remorse, improvement on himself and his work, glowing references from his colleagues at Google, and his relationship to Patient A, seemingly being a loving one at the time, rather than manipulative or abusive.

The medical tribunal decided not to strike off Dr Hughes, because he has apologised and had ‘well-developed insight and remorse about what happened’. The tribunal said that erasure of the medical record would have been a “disproportionate response.”