The decision of a British tribunal to allow a doctor to continue practising – after he admitted removing the ovaries of two women without consent – is being considered following an appeal, reports the BBC.
Dr Ali Shokouh-Amiri, a consultant in obstetrics and gynaecology at Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust and at Southend Hospital, was given a warning by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) at a hearing in February.
He worked as a partner at the Medical Specialist Group (MSG) in Guernsey from 2016 to 2019, and faced a range of allegations relating to six patients under his care there.
The Administrative Court at the Royal Courts of Justice in London heard that the General Medical Council (GMC) appealed the tribunal’s outcome on four grounds and after hearing evidence, the judge said he would reserve his judgment.
The court heard two days of legal argument in October before reconvening for a final day on Monday.
Jenni Richards KC, for the GMC, previously said three of the grounds for appeal related to how the tribunal dealt with findings of fact, and the fourth was the decision by the panel that Shokouh-Amiri’s fitness to practice was not impaired.
The first three grounds of appeal – that the tribunal had failed to address the central issue relating to an allegation concerning one patient, had misunderstood evidence and failed to give adequate reasons for its decisions in relation to another, and the allegations of each patient were only considered separately – were discussed at the earlier hearing.
In connection with ground four, Richards previously said the tribunal’s approach was wrong and “upholding public confidence and standards required a finding of impairment (of fitness to practise)”.
On Monday, Ben Rich, for Shokouh-Amiri, said the tribunal “clearly had the issue of public confidence and the need to uphold standards” in mind, and had evaluated that against the remediation carried out by Shokouh-Amiri.
He said: “What is said by the appellant (GMC) is a disagreement with the evaluation that they made,” and that the court “will want to be very cautious to overturn an evaluative decision”.
The judge said he was reserving judgment and would let the parties “know in due course when a draft is ready”.
BBC article – Court reserves judgement in misconduct doctor case (Open access)
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