The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Plagiarism row: ‘Matter closed’ in Eljamel case
Controversial former surgeon forced to correct error in 2008 paper
A disgraced former NHS Tayside surgeon’s apology in a transatlantic plagiarism row has been accepted.
Dr Brian A Simpson said he was satisfied with the outcome after Muftah Salem Eljamel was forced to correct his error in a 2008 paper.
Eljamel, 61, was pulled up 10 years after he published a paper in Charlottesville-based Neurosurgical Focus in 2008, during his time at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee.
A postoperative image included in Mr Eljamel’s paper was said to be from a patient at Ninewells who had undergone brain surgery but it transpired it was actually from a patient treated 460 miles away in Cardiff.
Dr Simpson said: “Given that the correction has been published, that Sam Eljamel has apologised and that there appears to be no evidence to refute his explanation, my feeling is that the matter is closed.
“As I published the image after his publication, without realising at the time that he had also published it, my main concern was that I might appear, erroneously, to be the plagiarist.”
Mr Eljamel – who had been a consultant neurological surgeon at NHS Tayside since 1995 – was suspended in 2014 after a patient had surgery on the wrong spinal disc at Ninewells.
He also had to step down from his teaching and research posts at Dundee University after the interim order by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service.
The GMC later allowed Professor Eljamel to remove himself from the medical register, after ruling it was in the best interests of patients.
Neurosurgical Focus is one of four monthly journals published by JNS Publishing Group, the scholarly journal division of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons.
Mr Eljamel has paid his $200 dues for the current year with the AANS which promotes the “highest quality of patient care” and has more than 10,000 members worldwide.
Membership requires the doctor to “maintain board certification” in the country of residence although Mr Eljamel has been not been able to practise since August 2015.
The paper has been cited 10 times which includes a citation by the correction and also by a 2015 paper that referred to Mr Eljamel’s article as an example of revisionist history.
Mr Eljamel, who quit his home in Newport earlier this year for a new life abroad, remains the subject of civil cases in relation to surgery carried out at Ninewells Hospital.