Doctor's Career on Line After Big Brother Tryst

Before she disappeared into Italy's Big Brother house, Dr Lina Carcuro predicted it would be a "parenthesis in my life, far removed from my professional objectives". Unfortunately not, it seems.

Last night, her career in medicine hung by a thread because of a sexual encounter with another contestant seen by millions of Italians. According to a report to be published in today's edition of the television guide TV Sorrisi e Canzoni, the Naples medical association, of which Carcuro is a member, is considering striking her off.

After more than two months on the reality show, cut off from the outside world, the surgeon from Naples was unaware that her professional body had asked Silvio Berlusconi's television network, Media set, for videos of the incident to see if she had infringed its code of conduct. Article 1 requires the doctors of Naples to observe "decorous conduct" at all times.

Carcuro, who specializes in facial surgery, ended up in bed with a Milanese businessman who, at the start of the sequence, asked her if she knew he was engaged to another woman. The 26-year-old doctor said that she was aware of his engagement "with a woman I think is fantastic".

Further details of their encounter were cut out of the prime-time version of the program but were shown on Berlusconi's pay-per-view channel. Another Media set program also transmitted the scenes, complete with a mocking commentary. With the lights out, Carcuro was heard to say: "We can't do anything. Even with that glimmer of light, they're filming us ... I'd like to make love with you all night, but I can't."

Precisely what did happen amid the rustles and exclamations is open to speculation. But the vice president of the medical association, Gabriele Peperoni, said members had complained because "there are certain acts a doctor may not perform in public". The body's president, Giuseppe Scalera, said: "The executive council will look at the material and we shall decide together what measures to take."

He said the sanctions ranged from a warning to dismissal from the association, which would end Carcuro's career.