An Italian gynaecologist who offered to have sex with a patient to cure cancer has been caught by an undercover TV programme.
The man, who was nicknamed ‘Dr Magic Flute’, has resigned after an undercover investigation caught him half naked with a women who he believed was a patient.
Dr Giovanni Miniello, 60, was targeted by the Italian TV show ‘Le lene’ after a female victim complained about him offering a ‘sex cure’ to patients.
The 33-year-old woman consulted with him about failing to get pregnant, and he allegedly suggested that she had indications of human papillomavirus (HPV), a sexually-transmitted DNA virus that can cause cancer, despite a negative Pap smear test.
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He reportedly said: "I have saved many women from cancer. All those I have had contact with were negative afterwards."
The doctor practised at a surgery in the southern Italian city of Bari, the capital of the Apulia region on the Adriatic, and since the undercover investigation was broadcast, 15 other women have come forward and claimed they were also victims of the doctor and his miracle sex cure.
He also claimed that having sex with somebody like him who had been vaccinated would give her immunity, and he offered to see if he could immunise her by having sex with her.
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The undercover actress then agreed to meet him in a hotel, where he again assured her as he undressed that afterwards she would be free from the virus.
While there, when she asked about protection, he told her that it was pointless as she would not then get the benefit of the antibodies if he had latex on.
Before the act was carried out, however, a journalist came into the room and surprised the half-naked doctor who protested: "I'm doing this for my studies, and for the other people that I have saved."
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Through his lawyer, Miniello reportedly said: "I, who have successfully treated hundreds of women for over 40 years... only proposed an alternative treatment that has yielded results".
He also added that he had never coerced the women to have sex with him and always gave them 'absolute freedom of choice'.
The coordinator for the Anti-Violence Centre in Bari, Marika Massara, said: "We have received several reports in the last few days, dozens.
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"Women who have come together and gone through a similar situation.
"Some consider reporting it, others are afraid, also because the level of secondary victimisation we are witnessing is very high."
The public prosecutor in Bari has meanwhile opened an investigation, which is currently in a preliminary phase to establish the facts.
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