Transplant surgeon who lied about academic achievements is suspended for 12 months

A consultant transplant surgeon who lied about his academic achievements and was dismissed for dishonesty, then lied to new employers about that dismissal, has been suspended from the UK medical register for 12 months.

In a decision “finely balanced between erasure and suspension,” Abul Siddiky escaped the harsher punishment partly because he “is one of only approximately 100 surgeons in the United Kingdom with his skill set,” said Nathan Moxon, chairing the medical practitioners tribunal.

The tribunal listed 10 occasions over nearly three years in which Siddiky was found to have lied on application forms or to colleagues, interviewers, and investigators.

In one case, after joining a research team, Siddiky was given a report of its work to date. He plagiarised this report to write an abstract paper, which he submitted for a Medawar award at the British Transplantation Society meeting. Listing …