Zoe used her eunuch Sgouritzes to bribe the doctor of Ioannes the orphanotrophos to poison his patient, offering gifts and promises. When Ioannes was prescribed a purgative, the doctor acquired poison from Konstantinos Moukoupeles and gave it to him. However the doctor's young assistant betrayed the plan and saved Ioannes. The doctor was exiled to Antioch, Konstantinos Moukoupeles was expelled from Constantinople, and Zoe herself was viewed with great suspicion