Hospital trust director is cleared of dishonesty in case of misdiagnosed diabetes

The medical director of an NHS trust who signed a defence to a clinical negligence claim wrongly stating that a diagnosis given to a 20 year old patient who died was correct has been found guilty of serious misconduct but cleared of dishonesty.

A General Medical Council fitness to practise panel found that Gerard Murphy’s conduct was misleading and likely to bring the profession into disrepute, both in signing the defence in 2001 and in making a witness statement to the High Court in 2005.

But the panel, which heard the case in Manchester, decided that he was not dishonest and that his fitness to practise was not currently impaired as a result of his conduct. It issued a formal warning, which will remain …