Dr Dishonourable
He gave unofficial medical advice to neighbours for 30 years – then billed the family when they passed away
A DOCTOR who gave informal medical advice to his neighbours over 30 years slapped their family with a bill after they died, a tribunal heard.
Consultant physician Stephen Bentley, 75, accepted prime cuts of beef and Christmas turkeys from Harry and Joan Sutcliffe in exchange for his services.
But once both had died, he sent their relatives an invoice for 68 ‘consultations’ ahead of mrs Sutcliffe’s funeral.
The bill was accompanied by an ‘insensitive’ letter saying: ‘I have never charged them for professional services provided. more fool me, you might say.’
The public school- educated doctor, who worked for the nHS and privately, had been a long- standing friend of cattle farmer mr Sutcliffe and his wife, a horse riding instructor.
Bolton-born Bentley would watch manchester United matches on Sky TV at the couple’s farm in the village of antrobus, Cheshire, and drink their whisky. mrs Sutcliffe also gave riding lessons to his children.
Bentley gave the couple medical help on an ad-hoc basis between 1982 and 2012 even though they had a GP, the manchester tribunal was told.
In return he was paid by mr Sutcliffe in prime cuts of beef.
He fell out with their family after the deaths of mr Sutcliffe aged 90 in January 2016 and mrs Sutcliffe aged 84 in november the following year.
ahead of mr Sutcliffe’s funeral Bentley was involved in a curt exchange of texts with the relatives over his treatment of the cattle farmer. Just five days after mrs Sutcliffe’s death he sent her lawyer the medical bill for an unknown amount.
as a result he was reported to the General medical Council (GmC) for ‘insensitive and dishonest’ conduct. Bentley, who is now retired, declined to attend the medical Practitioners Tribunal Service hearing.
‘Paid in prime cuts of beef’
He asked for ‘voluntary erasure’ from the medical register after admitting misconduct charges.
But a disciplinary panel ordered that the hearing proceed, which could bring a shameful end to his 45-year career. The doctor had spent three years researching tropical diseases in africa before being appointed a consultant general physician at Warrington Hospital. On a Bupa website he proclaimed himself to be a ‘downto earth Lancastrian’ claiming his ‘plain speaking’ would ‘keep patients fully informed’.
But his forthright tongue hit a sour note with mr Sutcliffe’s daughter margaret, who was stepdaughter to Joan.
margaret Sutcliffe said there was ‘never any verbal suggestion there was going to be a payment’ for his medical visits, and she regarded him as a ‘friend to the family’. ‘my father would give him meat, or take some meat in a box, or give him a turkey at Christmas,’ she said. ‘It was our family’s way of saying thank you. In the early days it was purely professional but it did turn out to be more of a friendship to it.’
She said the timing of the invoice had been ‘horrendous’.
Shirlie Duckworth, counsel for the GmC, said Bentley’s visits were initially to see mr Sutcliffe about his diabetes and stress, but he would also watch TV and drink his whisky.
‘There was no mention of charging for services by the doctor,’ she said.
according to the GmC, Bentley ‘failed to maintain a professional boundary by continuing to provide care whilst having a social relationship’.
Bentley’s lawyer richard Partridge said he had been mr Sutcliffe’s ‘de-facto GP’.
mr Partridge said his client knew the letter had been ‘unprofessional’. He added that Bentley felt ‘mortified’.
no payment has been made. The hearing continues.