"Her career was ruined by this one guy asking for sex on this night. And, realistically, she would have been much better to have given him a blow job on that night," Dr McMullin said.

"What I tell my trainees is that, if you are approached for sex, probably the safest thing to do in terms of your career is to comply with the request; the worst thing you can possibly do is to complain to the supervising body because then, as in Caroline's position, you can be sure that you will never be appointed to a major public hospital."

Centre Against Sexual Assault Victorian spokeswoman Carolyn Worth said the comments were "appalling" and "irresponsible" because perpetrators thrive on not being challenged about their behaviour.

"I would have thought highly trained professionals would be able to operate a better system than that," she said. "I actually don't think that's acceptable advice in this day and age."

Domestic Violence Victoria chief executive Fiona McCormack said the comments were "outrageous" and "pretty extraordinary".