Wronged surgeons were ‘victims of revenge’
TWO surgeons wrongly blamed by an NHS report for the deaths of dozens of cardiac patients have been told they have “no case to answer” by the General Medical Council.
A report by NHS Improvement (NHSI) concluded that cardiac surgeons at St George’s Hospital, in London, had caused the deaths of 67 patients, leaving their reputations in tatters.
St George’s NHS Trust suspended the two surgeons and paid hundreds of thousands of pounds in legal fees over claims of clinical malpractice and mistakes in care.
In the aftermath of the NHSI report, Prof Marjan Jahangiri and Dr Justin Nowell were referred to the General Medical Council for a misconduct investigation by the medical director of their own NHS trust.
But an MP has said that following an 18-month process, the surgeons have been told by the General Medical Council (GMC), the doctors’ disciplinary and regulatory body, that they have “no case to answer” and there is “no need for a formal investigation”.
The GMC’s ruling comes after the report’s findings were criticised in inquests held by Prof Fiona Wilcox, senior coroner for inner west London.
She said that no blame should have been attached to St George’s medical staff and the two surgeons.
Friends of Prof Jahangiri and Dr Nowell said: “The GMC referral was a vindictive act of petty revenge from the managers who were continually losing their cases against the doctors.”
Felicity Buchan, the Conservative MP for Kensington, has submitted a written question in Parliament to Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary, calling for an review of the report in the aftermath of the inquests and the GMC’s decision.
A spokesman for the GMC said: “We cannot comment on individual [cases].”
A St George’s Hospital Trust spokesman said: “The Independent Mortality Review assisted the Trust by making recommendations that helped [deliver] better outcomes for patients.”
A spokesman for NHSI said “We shared the review with the GMC, as we did other organisations. We did not refer the individuals.”