TOKYO (Reuters) - "Trust me, I'm a doctor" wouldn't describe one Japanese medic who has landed in hot water after hitting and abusing a patient during surgery.

The elderly female patient at a hospital in Shiga, central Japan, was given a local anaesthetic for an unspecified operation early last month, but began thrashing around on the operating table and yelling at the doctor to stop.

After trying to persuade her to calm down, the doctor hit the patient on the forehead and yelled at her to shut up, a hospital spokesman said. The patient needed five days to recover from the injury to her forehead. The operation was re-conducted last week by another doctor.