A medic who wrongly diagnosed Scots children with cancer to scare parents into paying for private treatment has been banned from practicing medicine.
A misconduct hearing ruled Dr Mina Chowdhury, 45, frightened three sets of parents into paying for private scans and tests at his Glasgow firm Meras Healthcare. Chowdhury told families their children had potentially cancerous conditions without a proper investigation before urging them to get further "unnecessary" private diagnoses.
The crook will now be removed from the medical register meaning he will not be able to practice as a paediatrician. We previously told how Chowdhury had continued to rake in cash training other medics while his case was delayed considerably.
In February last year the doctor was finally suspended after the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) found him guilty of misconduct. The MPTS concluded in December 2019 that Chowdhury’s behaviour was “dishonest” and “financially motivated”.
The misconduct hearing ruled that Chowdhury had "failed to provide good clinical care" to three patients which included diagnosing "cancerous conditions without proper investigation". The tribunal also concluded Chowdhury tried to persuade parents "to pay for unnecessary tests in relation to unwarranted cancerous diagnoses".
During one consultation, Chowdhury informed a 15-month old child’s parents that they had a lump in her leg which was a “soft tissue sarcoma” and stated that he “knew a doctor in London” who could arrange for her to get an ultrasound scan, MRI and biopsy within a couple of days. He was accused of telling the parents “it would be confusing to return back to the NHS”.
During another consultation with a 30-month-old boy’s mother Chowdhury said the result of a test result could be due to “blood cancer or lymphoma” and suggested treatment in London, saying there were “no places in Scotland where echocardiograms could be performed on children”. He also suggested a course of private treatment that was “disproportionately expensive” without offering appropriate referral for NHS treatment.
During a consultation with a third teenage patient he told the girl’s mother that she had a “neuroblastoma in her stomach which could spread if left untreated”. The MPTS found he told the girl’s mum they had to have a “serious conversation” that “all parents dread” before telling her: “We are going to talk about the ‘C’ word.”
He then told the mum her child needed blood tests and would need to travel to London. Chowdhury, was an employee of NHS Forth Valley but the tribunal relates to his private work between March 2017 and August 2017, when he was found to have created “an unwarranted sense of concern” among parents.
Sources previously told the Record of their fury that he had been teaching life-saving skills to oblivious candidates from up and down the country, paying thousands of pounds per session.
One medic, who attended a two-day training session in Glasgow fronted by the shamed doctor, said she was “disgusted” that Chowdhury can train dozens of candidates at a time who pay more than £500 to be there.
As Chowdhury was stuck off, the ruling added that its "inescapable conclusion" was that his actions were financially motivated. In its ruling, the tribunal said this was a case "where there has been persistent dishonesty in a number of areas which Dr Chowdhury has not fully acknowledged nor fully admitted".
It added that "only a sanction of erasure [from the medical register] was sufficient to protect, promote and maintain the health, safety and wellbeing of the public".
Chowdhury has 28 days to appeal his sanction.
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