A doctor who let his driver carry out a breast examination on a young mother was allowed to keep working, The Mail on Sunday has learned.
Luton-based GP Dr Godfrey Nkanu Emiku was merely given a warning by the General Medical Council (GMC) after the incident in February 2024 – despite his ‘unacceptable and inappropriate’ behaviour which risked ‘bringing the profession into disrepute’.
Dr Emiku was working for Hertfordshire Urgent Care, which provides health services for NHS 111 and out-of-hours primary care when, on a home visit, he saw the driver – who acts as a chaperone if required and is not a trained clinician – examining the young woman, who had recently given birth. He did not stop him, or repeat the examination himself.
It only came to light when the driver later told a receptionist, who raised the alarm.
But despite the failings, GMC examiners allowed Dr Emiku to continue practising on the basis that he had ‘insight’ and did not pose a future risk to patients.
Hertfordshire Urgent Care said it had launched an investigation into the incident and neither were now working for the company.
In a statement, it said: ‘HUC takes patient safety and professional standards extremely seriously. The patient was informed of the incident, and the matter was managed transparently and sensitively.’
The extraordinary case is one of 109 in the past year alone involving doctors who were disciplined by either the GMC or the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS), which carries out independent tribunals if the allegations are considered serious enough to affect a doctor’s fitness to practise.
Dr Suhail Anjum was caught in a ‘compromising position’ with the nurse by a colleague at Tameside Hospital in Greater Manchester
Dr Ali Shokouh-Amiri faced more than 100 claims of inappropriate behaviour while head of gynaecological oncology at Guernsey’s Princess Elizabeth Hospital
The warnings mean they are allowed to keep working in the NHS and privately, despite breaching professional standards. Some cases concern medics’ failings in conduct and judgment, while others have put patients at risk.
In another case, which even the doctor himself described as ‘shameful’, a consultant anaesthetist left a patient on the operating table to have sex with a nurse in another room.
Dr Suhail Anjum, 44, was caught in a ‘compromising position’ with the nurse by a colleague at Tameside Hospital in Greater Manchester, and reported to senior staff.
The patient was unharmed, and Dr Anjum – who claimed he was having marital problems after his child was born prematurely – returned to the theatre to finish the surgery eight minutes later.
His MPTS misconduct hearing in September found his fitness to practise as a doctor was not impaired, and only issued him with a warning.
Another doctor who removed two women’s ovaries without their consent is still practising as a consultant gynaecologist after being given a warning.
A hearing last year saw Dr Ali Shokouh-Amiri face more than 100 claims of inappropriate behaviour while head of gynaecological oncology at Guernsey’s Princess Elizabeth Hospital, which also included hugging patients and performing intimate examinations without a chaperone.
In another case which came before the regulator, cardiologist Dr Amer Ali Bilal Hamed was reprimanded after he mimed pulling a gun out of his back pocket, pointing it at patients and ‘shooting’ them with his fingers. Iraqi-trained Dr Hamed – former director of the British Islamic Medical Association – also shouted at a patient while discussing their care and ‘made comments about religion and gender stereotypes’ to junior staff, while working for Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust.
The incident of the doctor allowing his driver to carry out a breast examination on a young mother only came to light when the driver later told a receptionist, who raised the alarm (File image)
Doctors were even let off with warnings despite serious clinical failures where patients were misdiagnosed or not referred for urgent treatment, such as Dr Susan Walker, who failed to correctly interpret an abnormal electrocardiogram (ECG) result and did not urgently refer the patient to cardiology.
And Dr Rohini Priyanka Samaratunga, who qualified in Sri Lanka, misdiagnosed a patient during a phone consultation and failed to refer them to A&E despite signs of significant dehydration.
Among the near endless list of serious misdemeanours were cases of sexual harassment and inappropriate comments, as well as criminal offences not linked to their professional conduct, such as theft and drug possession.
The GMC said it had launched High Court appeals against the MPTS decisions to issue only warnings in the cases of Dr Shokouh-Amiri and Dr Anjum.
A spokesman said: ‘A warning is a serious and formal finding that a doctor has fallen short of our professional standards. It is issued following a thorough investigation and remains on a doctor’s record for two years.
‘If a tribunal issues a warning that we believe does not go far enough to protect the public, we can and do appeal the decision to the High Court.’