Doctor ‘God’ gave his dying patients futile drugs, medical tribunal told
A WORLD-renowned cancer expert nicknamed ‘God’ for his pioneering work gave dying patients chemotherapy despite the ‘near-futility’ of using it, a medical tribunal was told yesterday.
Professor Justin Stebbing, who is consulted by wealthy patients from across the globe for his ‘aggressive’ treatment, faces allegations of failing to provide good clinical care to 11 patients.
The Oxford-trained consultant, 49, is said to have been dubbed ‘God’ by ex-patients over his results.
However a leading private health insurer suspended him from its list of recognised consultants amid concerns about the drugs he was prescribing. A man referred to as Patient G was transferred to Professor Stebbing’s care in 2016 with lung cancer which had spread to the glands, a Medical Practitioners’ Tribunal Service hearing in Manchester was told yesterday.
The doctor told the patient’s daughter that her father ‘was a very sick bunny but I am going to get him a lot better’, the hearing was told.
But Patient G suffered a puncture to the lung when staff attempted to ‘insert a line’ and later endured respiratory deterioration, it was said.
One doctor who questioned his treatment was contacted at home by Professor Stebbing who asked ‘what the hell she was doing stopping the chemo’.
In an exchange of texts, He commented ‘he is f ***** anyway so whether we give it or don’t, he will die’, the hearing heard.
Sharon Beattie, counsel for the General Medical Council, said the patient’s deteriorating condition should have triggered a reassessment of chemotherapy, the benefits of which were categorised as ‘almost zero’. The case fuels the debate over prolonging the lives of terminally ill patients against preserving their quality of life in the time they have left. Defence experts suggest the doctor was being ‘sympathetic’.
Professor Stebbing has won a string of accolades through his medical career and was praised by the husband of actress Lynda Bellingham for treating her bowel cancer. Chat show host Sir Michael Parkinson is also patron of a charity that helps to fund his work.
But in another instance, the doctor – a leading oncologist at a London clinic – cancelled a ‘Do Not Resuscitate’ note on a lung cancer patient referred to as Patient F in March 2016, the hearing was told.
Miss Beattie explained that Professor Stebbing said the patient’s prognosis may be as long as 18 months, but instead she died within 12 days.
An investigation by a GMC expert found there had been a ‘failure to consider an appropriate ceiling of care during the patient’s deterioration’ and ‘an unrealistic prognosis’.
The report added: ‘There was a decision to provide therapy and escalate care in a setting of nearfutility.’ He also faces allegations of sending messages to a ‘vulnerable’ patient who felt an ‘emotional entanglement’ with him that featured kisses, pet names such as ‘honey’ – and the words: ‘I adore you.’ Professor Stebbing denies misconduct. The hearing continues.
‘Emotional entanglement’