Doctor suspended after review

A DOCTOR whose caesarean patient felt “scraping and scratching” after he failed to properly anaesthetise her has been suspended for 12 months.

The move comes after Dr Jacques Vallet failed to comply with conditions set following an investigation into the incident when he was a locum consultant anaesthetist at St Johns Hospital, Livingston, in November 2009. A medical tribunal in February last year heard that Vallet failed to administer a local anaesthetic and failed to make sure the woman had an adequate level of oxygen supplied. After the woman told Vallet she could feel “scraping and scratching”, the procedure had to be delayed so she could be fully sedated.

That fitness to practice panel found Vallet had made seven errors during the procedure and put him under strict conditions of practice, including one that he must retrain and work under supervision.

But a Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service review hearing in Manchester yesterday found that Vallet had failed to comply with the conditions to practice. It heard that since May last year the General Medical Council had received no documentation from Vallet to say where, or even if he was working as a doctor.

The panel chairman said: “As Dr Vallet has not provided any evidence to demonstrate that his original misconduct has been remediated and given his failure to comply with the conditions imposed on his registration and to engage with his regulator, it is necessary for the protection of members of the public to suspend his registration with immediate effect.”