Stephen Hawking nurse is banned ...but why is case being kept secret?
Family’s concerns over her care of professor
A NURSE who worked for Stephen Hawking for 15 years has been suspended by a secret tribunal over allegations of serious misconduct concerning his care.
The scientist’s family lodged a complaint which prompted a long investigation into 61-yearold Patricia Dowdy, The Mail on Sunday has learned.
But details of the case, and the nature of the disciplinary charges against Mrs Dowdy, have been suppressed by the body which regulates nursing.
The public and the media have been banned from the hearing in a move that will prompt renewed concerns about a shift towards ‘secret justice’.
Because of the severity of the allegations against her, which have never been made public, Mrs Dowdy was immediately suspended by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) when the claims came to light.
The ‘substantive’ hearing that will ultimately decide her fate is continuing – but is being held behind closed doors. And the charges will probably never be publicly disclosed.
It is understood that the nurse, from Ipswich, Suffolk, stopped working for Hawking at least a year before he succumbed to motor neurone disease last March, aged 76.
When a Mail on Sunday reporter turned up at the NMC in Stratford, East London, he was denied entry and told that Mrs Dowdy’s ‘fitness to practise’ hearing, due to end later this month, was private. Later, the NMC said a secrecy order was granted because of Mrs Dowdy’s ‘health’ but declined to elaborate further.
Asked about the allegations at her home yesterday, Mrs Dowdy said: ‘This is all very upsetting. Can I just say “no comment” at the moment? I’m not supposed to talk to anyone.’
A source with knowledge of the case said the charges against the nurse were ‘pretty serious’ but declined to discuss the matter further.
In 2004, ten nurses who had cared for Hawking accused his second wife, Elaine Mason, of abusing him. It is not known if Mrs Dowdy was among those who made statements to police or if that case is connected to the ongoing hearing.
At the time it emerged that the author of A Brief History Of Time was repeatedly taken to hospital with unexplained injuries, such as a broken wrist, gashes to the face and a cut lip, that left his family concerned for his safety. Both he and Mrs Mason denied the allegations, and police took no action.
Last night, MPs and campaigners reacted with dismay to the decision to hold disciplinary hearings in secret. Independent MP John Woodcock, who helped constituents fight for NMC hearings into midwives implicated in the needless deaths of babies at Furness General Hospital in Cumbria, warned the secrecy could raise the risk of a further tragedy.
He said: ‘It is deeply concerning that the NMC is seeking to reduce transparency.’
And open justice campaigner John Hemming added: ‘If you want people to have confidence in the regulator, justice needs to be done – and seen to be done.’
Hawking had been confined to a wheelchair since the age of 30 and was attended to by a rota of private nurses and carers paid for by Cambridge University, where he was a mathematics professor.
Often Mrs Dowdy was at his side. She was pictured with him in 2014 when he met then Chancellor George Osborne at an event in London.
Last night a spokesman for the family said they did not wish to comment on the NMC hearing but said: ‘The past year has been a very distressing time for us.’
The NMC maintained that it was not intending to hold more hearings behind closed doors. It said: ‘In some cases, including this particular case, there are reasons why this doesn’t happen, due to the health of those involved.’
Alan Clamp, chief executive of the Professional Standards Authority, which oversees health regulators, said: ‘We think open hearings are an important way of assuring the public that serious cases are dealt with properly.’
‘This is all very upsetting’