Surgeon’s comments about Asian colleagues were rude but not racist, tribunal says

A senior surgeon and clinical director who spoke harshly about a group of doctors from India and Pakistan in front of other staff was rude but not racist and was not guilty of serious misconduct, a medical practitioners tribunal has found.

Peter Hale, 58, a consultant surgeon with an interest in gastroenterology, was referred to the General Medical Council by four doctors of Pakistani and Indian origin who said that he used racist and derogatory language about them after they left a 2013 meeting at which they had argued with him over contracts and rotas, accusing him of racism and “slavery.”

“Some of these sub-continent elements—what you end up with is long term resentments,” Hale …