Leicester Doctor Given Further Six Months Suspension

20 December 2018, 15:51

A doctor in Leicester - convicted of manslaughter -has agreed to a further six months' suspension to allow her to address "personal issues" before her fitness to practice is reviewed, a tribunal has said.

Trainee paediatrician Dr Hadiza Bawa-Garba was found guilty of gross negligence manslaughter after six-year-old Jack Adcock died from sepsis at Leicester Royal Infirmary.

Colleagues rallied around her and fought a decision to remove her from the medical register, with Dr Bawa-Garba winning a legal battle to get the lesser punishment of a year's suspension.

The Medical Practitioners Tribunal (MPT) said on Thursday that the doctor and the General Medical Council (GMC) had agreed to a further six months' suspension to prepare for a review hearing.

"This further period should permit Dr Bawa-Gawa some further time to address the personal issues," chair Stephen Killen wrote in a review of the case.

Her suspension had been due to end in January, when the tribunal would have investigated whether she was fit to practice or should receive a further suspension.

This will now take place before the fresh suspension ends in July.

Mr Killen said the doctor is yet to provide necessary evidence for the review and that she feels unable to attend the public hearing presently due to "personal circumstances".

Jack, who was from Glen Parva, Leicestershire, and had Down's syndrome and a heart condition, died in 2011.

Dr Bawa-Garba was given a suspended two-year prison sentence after a trial.

The judge at Nottingham Crown Court said she and a nurse on duty at the time did not give the child the "priority which this very sick boy deserved".

The MPT ruled a suspension was sufficient, but the GMC disagreed and took the case to the High Court, where judges ensured she was struck off.

But in August, Court of Appeal judges overturned this decision to give the lesser punishment.