Surgeon suspended after domestic abuse conviction

General Medical Council imposes ban for 12 months

A leading surgeon has been suspended from practising for a year after it emerged he had been convicted of a string of assaults.

Dr Niall Craig, 49, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon based in Aberdeen, was brought before disciplinary bosses after he appeared in court last year.

The medic admitted two charges of assault to injury, which related to domestic abuse incidents that took place between 2010 and 2016. He also admitted three charges of assaulting a child.

He appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court in March last year. He was sentenced to a community payback order with a two-year supervision period.

Dr Craig reported himself to the General Medical Council (GMC) and has now appeared before a hearing of the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service.

The panel banned the surgeon, who worked at NHS Grampian as well as treating private patients, from working for 12 months and condemned him for his “shameful behaviour”.

The doctor’s legal team said he was not a “violent man” and none of the incidents related to the workplace.

They said he was stressed due to a heavy workload at the time of the offences and had shown “significant insight and remorse for his actions”.

However, the panel ruled his fitness to practice was impaired and criticised him for blaming the attacks on work pressures.

Tribunal chairwoman Catherine Hartley said: “Although he did describe his remorse and shame at the incidents, this conflicted with the points at which he used language which appeared to minimise the pattern of violent behaviour which was outlined in his conviction record – referring to them at various points as ‘isolated incidents’, as ‘inappropriate’ or ‘irrational behaviour’.

“He repeatedly qualified his violent behaviour by reference to extrinsic events such as his work stress, tiredness, being hungry.”

The GMC’S legal team urged the tribunal to strike Dr Craig off the medical register, but they said suspension was more appropriate due to his exemplary professional record.

Dr Craig qualified as a doctor from Aberdeen University in 1992 and specialises in spinal surgery. In 2015 he helped pioneer a new type of bone graft using silk from moths in spinal fusion surgery.