Gastroenterologist overturns GMC’s “irrational” misconduct ruling

A consultant gastroenterologist who was found guilty of misconduct by the General Medical Council has won a ruling quashing the “irrational” decision after representing himself at the High Court in London.

Rakesh Aga, a consultant with Medway NHS Trust in Kent, argued that a GMC fitness to practise panel should not have found him guilty of misconduct for failing to spot immediately that a diabetic patient with impaired consciousness was hypoglycaemic. He was unable to appeal in the usual way because the panel had ruled, despite the “misconduct,” that his fitness to practise was not impaired.

His only recourse was to apply for a judicial review at the High Court, where he appeared without a lawyer against a barrister instructed by the GMC.

The patient, X, whom Aga …