Cases Of Sexual Harassment By Doctors Due To Inequality In Power Relations

The West Java Regional Police when presenting the suspect with the initials PAP for the case of sexual violence that occurred to the patient's family in Bandung, West Java, Wednesday (9/4/2025). (ANTARA/Rubby Jovan)

JAKARTA The sexual harassment that has been widely discussed lately has tarnished the medical profession. This incident not only caused trauma to victims, but also sparked public anger as well as eroded public confidence in this profession that was considered noble.

In a short period of time, the Indonesian people were shocked by two cases of sexual harassment by doctors in two different locations.

First, a doctor who is in the Specialist Doctors Education Program (PPDS) anesthesia of Padjadjaran University, Priguna Anugrah Pratama. He is suspected of raping a patient's child at Hasan Sadikin Hospital (RSHS) Bandung, West Java.

The 31-year-old doctor has been named a suspect and has been detained by the West Java Regional Police since March 23.

Second, there were cases of sexual harassment of pregnant women by an obstetrician and childbirth of Muhammad Syafril Firdaus in Garut.

This second case emerged after on social media a video of CCTV circulating when the doctor who is now a suspect conducted an ultrasonographic or ultrasound examination. In the video, the doctor can be seen examining the patient's content, but reaching the chest area. This action was considered unnatural and after the video went viral, the Garut Resort Police finally arrested the perpetrator on April 15, 2025.

The series of incidents involving doctors recently reiterated that immoral acts were rooted in the existence of a power relationship between the perpetrator and the victim. In this case the patient and the patient's family.

"There is a greater possibility of harassment being caused because of the unequal power relationship between health workers, namely specialist doctors or specialists and patients or patient families. That's very possible," said the founder of the Center for Indonesia's Strategic Development Initiatives (CISDI), Diah Saminarsih.

The two examples above are just a few of the various cases involving doctors. A female patient from Serang Regency, Banten, admitted that she was abused by doctor AYP at Persada Hospital, Malang.

This incident occurred in September 2022, but only went viral this month. Persada Hospital management acknowledged that AYP had violated ethics and discipline at their press conference on April 18, 2025.

AYP is given a temporary suspension, so it is prohibited to work in the Persada Hospital environment until a thorough internal investigation is completed.

forensic psychologist Reza Indragiri Amriel said the perpetrator of the rape by a doctor at RSHS Bandung was an evil doctor. For this reason, he demanded that the suspect Priguna be sentenced to the fullest extent.

Reza also outlined a number of possible causes of the use of rape of the victim, even though he was a doctor. At least two theories were presented by Reza to explain this case.

First, the theory adopted by the feminist. They, according to Reza, must talk about power asymmetry, namely unbalanced power relations. In this case, Priguna is a superior figure while the victim is an inferior.

The second theory is social learning theory. He said, there is a possibility that this is caused by the rampant sex industry.

"It causes anyone, including perhaps a doctor, to lose sensitivity to sacred values of sexuality to the body," said Reza.

Reza also revealed other factors that made this action occur within the hospital. The supervisory function that does not run optimally both in the microsphere in the hospital concerned and in the macro scope is related to compliance and enforcement of ethics in medical organizations.

For this reason, Reza desat the Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI) was involved in investigating this case.

"Therefore, it is not enough only to enforce the law in the understanding of the criminal justice system, namely the police, the prosecutor's office will also work to uncover this case," he explained.

"But it will also be very good from an early age if the IDI authorities or other medical associations are included to ensure who actually has a collection mark that contributes to this sad and frightening event," Reza added.

The inequality of power relations is believed to be the cause of a number of incidents of violence, be it verbal violence, physical violence, to cases of violence or sexual harassment by doctors.

This was also conveyed by the founder of CISDI Diah Saminarsih. He said, cases of sexual harassment by medical personnel could be like an iceberg phenomenon. This means that the number is actually large but not revealed.

Usually, according to Diah, patients always follow the doctor's instructions, and are in a more powerless position compared to the health workers, so they tend to agree when ordered by the doctor.

As experienced by the patient's child at RSHS, for example, who was asked to go up to a room on the MCHC building on the 7th floor. He was asked by the suspect to check the suitability of the blood type that would be transfused to the recipient. In this case, the father of the treated victim is said to need a blood donor.

The victim's request to be accompanied by his younger brother was rejected by the suspect. While in the room in question, the suspect isolated the victim with Midazolam, a sedative commonly used before surgery, which was injected through infusion so that he was unconscious. At that time, the suspect was free to rape the victim.

"For example, the patient is told to go to his own room, without knowing his rights according to him. Even though that is not allowed, the patient should be accompanied by another nurse. But if you don't obey, there is a fear that you won't be served or punished," explained Diah.

"So there is a greater possibility of harassment being caused due to the unequal power relationship between health workers, namely specialist doctors or specialists and patients or patient families. That's very possible," he continued.