A neurosurgeon who wrongly told a woman he had removed her brain tumour at a Scottish hospital has been struck off after being found guilty of "lying and forgery" over a lengthy period.
The decision means that Emmanuel Kingsley Labram cannot work again in his profession in the UK. Labram pretended to the woman, Patient A, that she required no further treatment insisting she was cured for two years after the failed operation to remove a lesion for a tumour at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.
He lied persistently by claiming the surgery was partially successful in September 2008, but it was in fact inoperable and he was found to have abused his position of trust following a fitness to practise hearing of the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service in Manchester.
Labram also lied to colleagues and forged documents to keep up the deception.
Panel chairman Dr Howard Freeman heard Labram may have genuinely believed the lesion had been removed, but the panel still found serious misconduct and ruled his fitness to practise medicine was impaired. Dr Freeman said: "Mr Labram had acted in a dishonest and misleading manner in his care of Patient A over two years.
"His conduct had included the deliberate alteration of a pathology report on two occasions, the misrepresentation of an MRI report in a letter to another practitioner, and dishonest and misleading representations and correspondence to Patient A and her GP."
He said that together, the actions were a serious breach of the council's guidance for professional standards.
He added: "Cumulatively, these serious breaches demonstrate conduct that falls far below the standards expected of all registered medical practitioners, and which in the panel's judgment is capable of undermining public confidence in the profession and bringing the profession into disrepute.
"The panel is of the view that Mr Labram's behaviour would be regarded as deplorable by fellow practitioners and by the public."
He added that it thought his conduct had brought the profession into disrepute and that Labram had breached some of its "fundamental tenets".
"In this case I readily concede there is no evidence before the panel that this doctor's behaviour actually achieved serious harm, but there was the potential for serious harm.
"He abused his position of trust in relation to Patient A. She was entitled to know from her doctor what her position was and he lied to her persistently."
Craig Sephton, QC, for the General Medical Council, had submitted an application to have him struck off from working again in the UK.
l An on-call doctor at Perth Royal Infirmary faces a possible prison sentence after he altered patient medical notes to steal a morphine derivative.
Jahangir Khan, 46, pled guilty to the thefts at Perth Sheriff Court yesterday.
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