Cleared, senior doctor accused of affairs with two patients
A SENIOR doctor who faced career ruin after being accused of affairs with two patients has been cleared.
Dr Richard MacCallum, 54, was said to have had sexual trysts with both women after they were admitted to accident and emergency.
The married father-of-two was accused of buying chocolates and cola for one and of meeting up with the other for sex.
A consultant at the former Stirling Royal Infirmary, he was reported to health officials in November 2016 by the daughter of one of the women, a 63-year-old referred to as Patient B.
He was then investigated over his relationship with the other woman, known as Patient A, when her stepmother read about Patient B in a newspaper. Patient A died in 2015 aged 50.
At the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service, in Manchester, Dr MacCallum, from Dollar, Clackmannanshire, faced being struck off over a string of misconduct charges involving both women between 2008 and 2016.
But nearly all the charges were found not proven after the panel criticised NHS Forth Valley over ‘notable defects’ in its investigation.
Dr MacCallum produced a receipt from Celtic Football Club proving he was on duty at a match on the day he had allegedly met Patient A for sex.
He also denied claims by Patient B he had molested her on a hospital ward, saying a nurse was working alongside him at all times. The hearing was told that the patient had been an alcoholic who was in a state of withdrawal at the time.
Panel chairman Sean Ell said there were ‘a number of notable defects in the investigation’.
He said NHS Forth Valley associate medical director Dr Henry Robb, who was in charge of the probe, had been banned from speaking to Dr MacCallum and his colleagues when they could have provided key evidence to refute the claims.
He added: ‘Dr MacCallum stated that Patient A would ring and text him for advice when she had a personal crisis.
‘He stated that he returned Patient A’s calls and texts and accepted that he had attended her address on one occasion, but that the contact was not inappropriate, and contact had been initiated by Patient A.’
During the hearing, Patient B claimed Dr MacCallum touched
‘Implausible allegation’
and kissed her after she was taken by her two daughters to the A&E department at Forth Valley Royal Hospital in Larbert, near Falkirk, having fallen at her home in October 2016.
She claimed they later met up for sex.
But Mr Ell said the tribunal found it extremely unlikely that
Dr MacCallum would attend Patient B’s hospital room other than for clinical purposes while working in a very busy department on a very busy night.
He said it was ‘so far out of Dr MacCallum’s normal behaviour that his colleagues were dismayed by this allegation’.
He added: ‘The tribunal considered the allegation to be inherently implausible and Patient B’s evidence to be inconsistent and unreliable.’
Dr MacCallum was found guilty of attempting to call Patient B from hospital after her daughter confronted him about the texts. He will face a further hearing next month.
A spokesman for NHS Forth Valley said: ‘We can confirm that a member of medical staff remains suspended pending the outcome of an MPTS hearing which is due to reconvene at the beginning of March 2020.’