GMC and trust facing legal action over case of doctor who took his own life

The widow of a doctor who took his own life within hours of receiving a letter from the General Medical Council is taking legal action against his employers and the GMC, with the support of the BMA.

Sridharan Suresh, 50, a consultant anaesthetist with North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust, drowned himself in the River Tees on 2 May 2018. That day he had received an email from the GMC telling him that his NHS and private employers would be notified of allegations that he had inappropriately touched a 15 year old girl and that he would soon be called before an interim orders tribunal.

He had given the girl midazolam for a dental procedure, a drug associated with hallucinatory side effects. There were no witnesses, Suresh strongly denied the …