Struck off doctor wins High Court appeal

A doctor who was convicted of gross negligence manslaughter after the death of a six-year-old boy has won her High Court appeal to over turn her erasure.

Dr Hadiza Bawa-Garba, 41, placed Jack Adcock on the ‘do not resuscitate list’ after mistaking him for a two-year-old who had been discharged.

She was on duty at Leicester Royal Infirmary 2011 when Jack, who had Down’s Syndrome and a known heart condition, went into cardiac arrest due to sepsis.

Bawa-Garba made the ‘remarkable error’ of mistakenly placing Jack under a ‘do not resuscitate’ order and was later convicted of gross negligence manslaughter and received a suspended two-year jail sentence in November 2015.

But today (mon) Master of the Rolls Sir Terence Etherton said: ‘The tribunal was an expert body entitled to reach all those conclusions.

‘The tribunal was entitled to to take into account that an important factor weighing in favour of Dr Bawa-Garba is that she is a competent and useful doctor, who presents no material danger to the public and can provide considerable useful future service to society.

‘For those reasons we allow this appeal, set aside the decision of the Divisional Court, restore the decision of the Tribunal and remit the matter to the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service for review of Dr Bawa-Garba’s suspension.’

She had originally diagnosed the boy which gastro-enteritis, a stomach bug.

The doctor failed to spot from blood tests that Jack was in shock or reviewed chest x-rays that indicated he had the chest infection.

Bawa-Garba, a junior doctor specialising in paediatrics at the time, was struck off earlier this year following a successful appeal by the General Medical Council (GMC) against a decision of the Medical Practitioners Tribunal to suspend her for 12 months.

But she is now appealing the decision to strike her off and her barrister, James Laddie QC, told the High Court she should be back treating sick children

Mr Laddie had told the packed courtroom: ‘Our position is that the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service is in better position in general than a court to decide what is in the public confidence.

‘In so far as the decision requires any evaluation of the grounds of Dr Bawa-Garba’s conduct the MPT remains in a better position that the court.

‘This case was decided by three individuals agreeing for the reasons set out in the DCR this was not a decision where the only reasonable outcome was erasure.

‘My client is capable of making an excellent contribution to the medical profession for years to come.’

The Court of Appeal heard Bawa-Garba was an above average doctor with a first-class degree from the University of Southampton.

Mr Laddie added: ‘It is perfectly apparent that there was no breach of the sanction guidelines because it is not a legally binding document.’

He had told the Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett, Master of the Rolls Sir Terence Etherton and Lady Justice Rafferty the case had turned out to be ‘something of a lightning rod for the dissatisfaction of doctors and medical staff in this country’.

When the bench retired to consider their findings Bawa-Garba admitted her mistakes would ‘live with her for the rest of her life’.

She said she was ‘whole-heartedly sorry’ for what had happened.

Speaking after an earlier hearing Nicola Adcock, 44, said it made her ‘blood boil’ when she heard Mr Laddie argue Bawa-Garba should be treating sick children.

She criticised medical professionals for supporting Bawa-Garba at her latest appeal and said: ‘All these doctors came here having a say when none of them sat in the four and a half week court case.’

She added: ‘If that doctor is reinstated, I promise you, I will cause a public uproar.’

Bawa-Garba won her appeal and the matter will be reviewed by the Medical Practitoners Tribunal Serivce.
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