Doctor who told Muslim to remove her veil suspended
Nine-month ban for ‘deplorable’ conduct
AMIDLAND doctor who asked a Muslim woman to remove her veil three times has been suspended.
Dr Keith Wolverson has been banned from working for nine months after a misconduct panel found his actions were ‘deplorable’.
The medic, who has been a doctor for more than 25 years, committed a series of acts which amounted to misconduct while working in Staffordshire and Derby.
It included asking the married woman to remove her face covering, while the doctor went on to criticise the English speaking skills of 15 of his patients.
But Dr Wolverson, 56, said he plans to fight the ban. He will appeal despite admitting his acts were ‘unprofessional’.
The doctor said: “I’m going to appeal against this. I feel very sad for the public, because it would mean a further shortage for the NHS when it is extremely stressed. It’s all very sad because I don’t think this is what the public want – let the public decide. What would they rather have, a doctor with 26 years of experience to see them, or a doctor removed from the medical register for nine months?
“It’s not about me trying to belittle
an ethnic group, or be prejudicial against anyone of any cultural background, it’s all about clarity of communication.
“I think this is something people are frightened to talk about now, and I think this is a big problem, and we don’t talk about these things and they get misconstrued.”
At a Medical Practitioner Tribunal Service (MPTS) hearing earlier this year, Dr Wolverson – who qualified as a medical professional in 1996 – was found guilty of or admitted to 17 charges of misconduct.
Some of the charges – all of which date from January to May, 2018 – related to his work at the Royal Stoke Hospital, both as a locum, or temporary doctor, and at Derby Urgent Care
Centre. One incident saw him repeat a request to a Muslim woman, named as Mrs Q, to take off her veil three times during a consultation on May 13, 2018.
In other incidents, he wrote in the notes of 15 patients criticising their English speaking skills and those of their relatives between January and April 2018, claiming it was ‘unacceptable’ and ‘not good enough’.
The MPTS claimed Dr Wolverson had ‘changed his evidence’ when questioned about the incident involving the veil, claiming that he requested the veil’s removal due to the patient’s strong Stoke-on-Trent accent.
This assertion was rejected by the tribunal, which said that when Mrs Q
came to give evidence, they had no difficulty understanding her.
The General Medical Council (GMC) which brought the case against Dr Wolverson to the MPTS, does not have any specific guidelines on how to examine women wearing full-face veils.
Dr Wolverson admitted making ‘offensive notes and comments’ in patient records about speaking poor English, adding: “I shouldn’t have put that, it was unprofessional, but it was borne out of frustration while trying to help people. It’s difficult to make a diagnosis when you can’t understand the language that someone is speaking to you.
“I don’t ask people to remove their veils anymore. But, I sometimes find it really difficult to consult with people or hold a conversation with them when part of their face is covered.
“I draw a parallel with the recent past, when people had their part of their face covered due to coronavirus precautions, and there were many occasions where I struggled to understand what people were saying to me.”
He said: “The hearing process has been awful. Being a doctor is all I’ve known for 26 years and you become a doctor because you feel a calling to do so, you enjoy the role that you have, you feel privileged to help people to make them feel better.”