High Court quashes suspension of surgeon whose clinical competence was not in question
BMJ 2012; 345 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.e8400 (Published 10 December 2012) Cite this as: BMJ 2012;345:e8400- Clare Dyer
- 1BMJ
The High Court in London has quashed an order by the UK’s medical regulator suspending a consultant surgeon from practice pending a full hearing into allegations against him.
The court set aside an order made by an interim orders panel of the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service—the operationally independent arm of the General Medical Council that took over fitness to practise hearings last June—suspending the orthopaedic surgeon Shirzad Houshian.
The four High Court judgments since last September overturning interim suspensions or conditions restricting doctors’ ability to practise pending a final hearing raise questions as to whether panels are too ready to use these powers, which are meant to be reserved for the most serious cases.1 2 3
Houshian was suspended last August by the interim orders panel and faces a 20 day fitness to practise hearing before the …
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