Ward 87: DR AMIR KHAN BEATS THE GMC ON APPEAL

Friday, 17 October 2008

DR AMIR KHAN BEATS THE GMC ON APPEAL

One Small Step For Medical Kind.
Another Spectacular Defeat for the GMC

Just came to my laptop to find an email that made me run around, jump for joy and do a high five. These things are important because winning is important. I probably do it because I know the sour faced lot at GMC towers get annoyed by it. Nevertheless, chocolate is the key to winning!

Dr Amir Khan has been harassed by Mersey Deanery for some years now. He initially applied for a surgical job some years ago and was not given the job. Following that, he challenged the Deanery only to find that the Deanery referred him to the GMC as a revenge tactic. The accusations were " CV errors". Of course, there were no errors. The initial GMC Hearing was a joke and he was suspended for 3 months. We all encouraged the team to appeal and Rifat Malik a C5 News Anchor worked extremely hard to vindicate her husband.

Dr Khan appealed to the High Court and challenged the General Medical Council. The news today is that he has beaten the General Medical Council. This is a rare event and we doubt that the BMJ will bother featuring it as Fiona Godlee is too busy talking about her favourite boring subjects. Anyway, I am featuring it here as this is a leading case.

Dr Sushant Varma and I advised on this case. We love it when a "plan" comes together! :).

Well done to Rifat and Amir. The Fight Against Injustice has paid off! The judgment will be up online as soon as we get it. Cases rarely succeed on appeal therefore this is a success that is well deserved.

This email just came through.

---------------------------------------------

The chocolate did it!!

We just wanted you to be among the first to know that we have been totally vindicated and amir has been cleared of dishonesty and the impairment and sanctions have been set aside.

The judge said that he would be ordering 'no action' to be taken.

We also want to say that you both have been the ones who gave us hope and support for all these years and without you both we would never have made it so far. You are tireless and resourceful and we know there are so many drs and their families that you have helped through your work - your compassion, humanity and fight for justice has been inspirational. There is no doubt that our success after 5 years of struggle is almost wholly down to your help - we are indebted to you both forever.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Rifat and Amir

7 comments:

Anonymous said...: Oh yeeee-eeeessss! The woman dun goood! And congrats to all involved.

Don't you just love it when that magic aroma of Eau de Vindication wafts over you... ;-) ?; 17 October 2008 at 10:36
Anonymous said...: :) Never experienced it myself. Expensive perfume I suspect!

Khan did well. Now he can be free of the GMC and live his life.

RP; 17 October 2008 at 10:46
Anonymous said...: My heartfelt greetings for Dr Amir Khan and Mrs Rifat Malik. Have they made any plans for the Mersey Deanery yet?

Is the GMC being held to account for another one of its kangaroo court hearings?; 17 October 2008 at 13:26
Dr Liz Miller said...: Justice for one is good news for all. Well done Rita!!! and team and Well done Dr Amir Khan, it takes a lot of courage and strength to take on an institution such as the GMC

I don't suppose it has anything to do with Lee McQueen winning the Apprentice, or am I being frivilous ;-); 17 October 2008 at 23:57
Anonymous said...: And about bloody time.

Another General Medical Cock-up.

Great result.

AD; 18 October 2008 at 02:14
Anonymous said...: 9:111 BEHOLD, God has bought of the believers their lives and their possessions, promising them paradise in return, ,[and so] they fight in God's cause, and slay, and are slain: a promise which in truth He has willed upon Himself in [the words of] the Torah, and the Gospel, and the Qur'an. And who could be more faithful to his covenant than God? Rejoice, then, in the bargain which you have made with Him: for this, this is the triumph supreme!; 18 October 2008 at 13:29
Anonymous said...: GMC is a Poorly managed organization against Foreign Doctors And Keen to Make an example of them- and Hang them if needed ONLY TO PROTECT the ELITE professors and other Rich elites etc etc
(Like the Good old days where blacks were prosecuted and others will get away with Murder)

Well done Guys; 20 October 2008 at 14:36

Post a Comment

About The Author

There is a lot of things most people can say about me but in reality I am NHS Whistleblower. In 1998, I followed the guidance set out in Good Medical Practice[GMC] and raised concerns about substandard care on Ward 87 North Staffordshire NHS Trust. I also raised concerns about the large number of Midlands Hospitals covered by West Midlands NHS Executive in 1999. Following the recordings of the HSMR scores, only Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust spiked their figures. This was due to the inordinately high death rates. These deaths could have been prevented had the government acted in 1999. There are many other hospitals with equally high death rates but 1000s have not raised the HSMR scores. The Mid Staffordshire Inquiry shows poor standards that are similar to many hospitals in the Midlands [particularly Distinct General Hospitals]. They were also the identical to the concerns raised by me in 1999, many years before.

In 2010 the CQC finally admitted that North Staffordshire had "significantly high mortality" in the years I raised concerns.

This blog follows my adventures as a whistleblower. It was written between 2008-2010. It seeks to present what the media have never done. I also aim to discuss a number of medical issues important in the NHS today. A short account of my experiences is presented here.

Essentially, I raised concerns in 1998, locally then to all the authorities, the GMC, Department of Health and Trust attempted to say there was no substance to my concerns. In 2005, I discovered that all authorities had concealed the 1998 and 2001 internal reports that verified my concerns. This is a brief step by step summary of the events related to Ward 87.

Between 2000-2002, the General Medical Council conducted a "discreet inquiry" into my Fitness to Practice. I was never told of this investigation until I discovered quite by accident following a subject access request under the Data Protection Act 1998. The GMC were subjected to litigation by me due to the illegal investigation and repeated leaks of prejudicial information to potential employers. They were beaten in court following the first litigation of its kind. The GMC settled the case in favour of me. During litigation, the GMC subjected me quite severe harassment by revolving door vexatious complaints - 2 in total. I was cleared of all of them. I was never subjected to any Fitness to Practise hearings. All complaints were thrown out at case examiner's stage despite the GMC's malevolent intentions.

The GMC subsequently erased me from the Register for non payment of subscription fees. It should be emphasized that I was never sanctioned or struck off has speculated by some bloggers. In total, I have been subjected to 4 years of complaints that had no relation to my clinical work. This has had catastrophic consequences to my work as a doctor and eventually caused the assassination of my references in 2007.

This led to the test case R v General Medical Council Ex Parte Pal with the intention of defining the definition of potential misconduct and preventing vexatious complaints against doctors. The complaints were made by Penny Mellor and her associate Fiona Wollard [ niece of Professor Sir Charles George].

While permission was granted by a judge with Employment Law experience, the final hearing was lost courtesy of Justice Sir Andrew Collins who made various statements. One was that the GMC was free to rule differently on two separate cases with exactly the same facts and the other was to widen the analysis of misconduct to include conduct outside the profession. Justice Sir Andrew Collins has sat on numerous cases related to the GMC. He has often failed to declare that his brother Dr Mark Collins was once prosecuted by the GMC for alliances in Clapham Common. Details of this can be read here.

The two diametrically opposite analysis of misconduct was also discovered following the GMC's submission to R v General Medical Council Ex Parte Remedy UK. Essentially, one analysis appears to be used for some foreign doctors and a different more lenient definition is used for establishment doctors such as Liam Donaldson. The GMC were essentially caught red handed touting two different analysis of misconduct in two cases. This discrepancy is currently being investigated by both the CHRE and the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

The defenses to all these cases have taken up 52 files. By comparison, the GMC refused to investigate the doctors on Ward 87 despite the fact that their conduct was directly related to clinical work. They continue to work in various positions in the UK. No one was held accountable despite 2 reports verifying my concerns. Moreover, the Health Commission refused to conduct a broader data study in relation to the Ward 87. The GMC and Ombudsman refused to inform the patients on the Ward of the 1998 and 2001 Reports. The Sentinel newspapers refused to feature a legitimate advert.

In 2009, after discussion with Dr Phil Hammond, he wrote an excellent piece in Private Eye. While the media have provided little or no support for these issues, I am indebted to my fellow bloggers - Dr Rant, The Jobbing Doctor, Dr John Crippen and Witchdoctor. This blog exists to protect other doctors who I hope will never tread the path of whistleblowing. It is a path paved with injustice. It also serves to show the public that they cannot legitimately expect doctors to raise concerns in such a dangerous terrain. This indeed places patient safety in great jeopardy.

This blog ended in February 2010 as it was unlikely that I would ever return to medicine. I have also decided to end this particular saga here. I hope this blog will educate, entertain and remind the public that whistleblowing is a dangerous escapade and no junior doctor has treaded the same path as I have for a reason. The terrain is unsafe and always has been. I would say that I have been relatively unsupported in my journey through whistleblowing but singlehandedly I have been able to undercover evidence and establish some very important issues regarding the dangers of whistleblowing. I have ceased to respond to the media but I am always very happy to discuss matters with the public.

Ward 87

Pages

Friday, 17 October 2008

DR AMIR KHAN BEATS THE GMC ON APPEAL

7 comments:

About The Author

R v General Medical Council Ex Parte Pal 2009

Index

Important Judgments

Dr Pal's Legal Review

Blog Archive

Followers

Rita Pal reads

Search This Blog