Poor governance in the award of honours and degrees in British medicine: an extreme example of a systemic problem

In 2002 I raised questions about the failure of medical institutions to respond adequately to the decade of reports about the alleged financial and research misconduct of the surgeon Anjan Kumar Banerjee and of concerns about his clinical skills.1 Banerjee was erased from the Medical Register for more than five years (2002-08), following almost two years suspended, for serious professional misconduct. Yet in the 2014 Queen’s birthday honours Banerjee was awarded an MBE “for services to patient safety.”2 Two months after the award, and after Members of Parliament and the press were made aware of his record of misconduct, Banerjee’s MBE was forfeited.3

In the seven years since he has been allowed to return to practise as a doctor three medical royal colleges have honoured Banerjee by making him a fellow. The University of London has also ignored repeated requests to withdraw his Master of Surgery (MS) degree during the 15 years since it was confirmed to be based on fraudulent data. These events raise questions about governance in the award of national and academic honours to doctors.