GMC successful in High Court bid to strike off junior doctor
The GMC has won a High Court bid to have a junior doctor struck off the medical register, against the decision of its own tribunal.
The Medical Practitioner Tribunal Service decided in June last year that erasing trainee paediatrician Dr Hadiza Bawa-Garba from the register would be ‘disproportionate’ and recommended a 12-month suspension instead.
But the GMC disagreed and told the High Court in December that she should be struck off 'to protect the public' after her actions resulted in the death of a six-year-old boy.
The case sparked anger within the medical community, with hundreds of doctors writing to the GMC to voice their concerns that its actions would lead to ‘criminalisation of clinical error’ and worsen patient safety
In the judgment handed down this morning, the court ruled that Dr Bawa-Garba’s original sanction of suspension should be replaced with a decision to remove the doctor’s name from the medical register.
Lord Justice Ouseley said: 'I come firmly to the conclusion that the decision of the Tribunal on sanction was wrong, that the GMC appeal must be allowed, and that this Court must substitute the sanction of erasure for the sanction of suspension.
'The Tribunal did not respect the verdict of the jury as it should have. In fact, it reached its own and less severe view of the degree of Dr Bawa-Garba’s personal culpability.
'It did so as a result of considering the systemic failings and failings of other, and then came to tis own, albeit unstated, view that she was less culpable than the verdict of the jury established.'
The Medical Protection Society, which represented Dr Bawa-Garba, warned that the case would have worrying implications for doctors.
MPS medical director Rob Hendry said: 'The outcome of the GMC’s appeal against the Tribunal decision on this case is disappointing and its implications will understandably be of concern to the healthcare community.
'This challenge was brought by the GMC following their recently acquired right to appeal - a power which we opposed on the basis that it creates an unnecessary and unjust duplication of the Professional Standards Authority’s function.'
The MPS argued that 'while the criminal courts dispense justice - including punishment - the regulator’s role is to protect patients'.
Mr Hendry said: 'When considering whether a doctor is fit and safe to practise every case must be assessed on its own merits and should not be solely determined by the criminal sanction handed down by the court. Gross Negligence Manslaughter cases are usually complex, involve systems failures, and are devastating for all concerned. A conviction should not automatically mean that a doctor who has fully remediated and demonstrated insight into their clinical failings is erased.
'This appeal decision may jeopardise an open, learning culture in healthcare at a time when the profession is already marred by low morale and fear. We are considering all options in the interests of our member and the wider profession.'
GMC chief executive Charlie Massey said: 'This has been a tragic case; a family has lost their son in terrible circumstances and a doctor has lost her career.
‘In today’s ruling the court has confirmed that the Tribunal was simply wrong to conclude that public confidence in the profession could be maintained without removing the doctor from the medical register.'
Dr Bawa-Garba was a registrar at the Children’s Assessment Unit at Leicester Royal Infirmary on 18 February 2011, and the most senior doctor on the shift, when a six-year-old child with sepsis died. Dr Bawa-Garba continued to work at the hospital trust up until she was convicted of manslaughter by a Crown Court Jury in November 2015.
The MPTS said in a June 2017 hearing however, that erasing Dr Bawa-Garba from the GMC register would be ‘disproportionate’, that her actions were neither ‘deliberate or reckless’ and that she did not ’pose a continuing risk to patients.’
Mr Massey said: ‘The ruling clarifies that tribunals cannot go behind the jury’s verdict when a doctor is convicted in a criminal court.
'As the ruling makes clear, the Tribunal were wrong when they decided to suspend the doctor’s registration because in doing so they "reached their own less severe view of the degree of Dr Bawa-Garba’s personal culpability" than was established in the criminal court; which found that Dr Bawa-Garba’s failures that day were not simply honest errors or mere negligence, but were truly exceptionally bad.
'The judgment also found that the Tribunal did not give the weight required when considering the need to maintain public confidence in the profession.
‘We know the strength of feeling expressed by many doctors working in a system under sustained pressure, and we are totally committed to engendering a speak-up culture in the NHS. Doctors should never hesitate to act openly and honestly if something has gone wrong.’
Readers' comments (78)
fed up x2 | GP Partner/Principal25 Jan 2018 11:34am
judge, jury, executioner, re-executioner
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Anon locum | Locum GP25 Jan 2018 11:35am
So glad I left the UK
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RLE GP | GP Partner/Principal25 Jan 2018 11:44am
Scandalous
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Council of Despair | Locum GP25 Jan 2018 11:45am
it's all about public confidence ...
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Council of Despair | Locum GP25 Jan 2018 11:46am
'we are totally committed to engendering a speak-up culture in the NHS' - total and absolute ********
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Lincolnshire GP | GP Partner/Principal25 Jan 2018 11:52am
I strongly suspect that in 2-3 years time this doctor will apply for reinstatement and the GMC will quietly put her back on the Register.
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Richard Brown | GP Partner/Principal25 Jan 2018 11:52am
Dreadful dreadful dreadful in every way. Tragic for both the family losing a child & the feckless GMC damaging the profession further. Speak up at your peril! The GMC runs to its own agenda & that is not always in patients interests but their own. I have no faith or trust in the GMC.
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LateralThink | Salaried GP25 Jan 2018 11:52am
Technically, the High Court is right in that the Medical Practitioner Tribunal Service technically has no option but to take at face value the original court's decision.
However, it seems to me that justice has neither been done, nor seen to be done, and the collateral ramifications and damage will be immense.
May I suggest that the appropriate, moral, humane and ethical thing to do now is for the GMC to strike Dr Bawa-Garba off the medical register for, say, four months, then let her apply for readmission (and accept her).
At the same time the GMC needs to take a long hard look at the responsibility an individual clinician faces when system errors are involved, and alter its own regulations so that system failures and pressure of work are ALWAYS taken into account when judging the actions of individual clinicians.
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Seen the light | Locum GP25 Jan 2018 11:58am
As humans we make mistakes - nobody is perfect. In fact, I was always taught that learning from mistakes is what matters.
This ruling will destroy that ethos. Medical practice will move to shun all risk and over-investigate/treat/admit etc.
How awful for this doctor.
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importance of being sincere | Locum GP25 Jan 2018 12:01pm
The standard used to make such decisions against doctors is the bar of "public confidence in the profession". The problem with this bar is its subjective and nebulous-therein lies the problem.
Moreover, we have to go by what a reasonable public would want not populist views.
Lastly, the GMC is trying to make us see that they understand the pressures we all work in, however this decision confirms that what they "say" may not be what they "walk".Worse still, it shows they lack insight. Now, that is very concerning!
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