To feel sorry for this doctor?

[HarryStylesismycrack]

I am not in any way downplaying the death of that beautiful little boy and it is clearly acknowledged there were some failures by the doctor in question however AIBU to feel as though this intervention by the GMC into the independent decision making by the MPTS is concerning? It appears to me that the MPTS took into account many things, not just the outcome (which I completely acknowledge is heartbreaking), the fact that this doctor was working the job of several other medical staff in an unfamiliar environment with significant IT issues with no senior input. It feels like this doctor has been made a bit of a scapegoat for huge systemic failures.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/jack-adcock-latest-downs-syndrome-death-doctor-hadiza-babwa-garba-struck-off-general-medical-council-a8177721.html

A different link to a blog by other medical practitioners 54000doctors.org/blogs/an-account-by-concerned-uk-paediatric-consultants-of-the-tragic-events-surrounding-the-gmc-action-against-dr-bawa-garba.html

I don't want people scapegoated. How exactly has she been held to account if she will be allowed to return to practicing medicine?

Staffing levels and NHS funding are not her responsibility.
How can it be reasonable if management allow to under staff. not just one ward but several and then when things inevitably go wrong, the poor Dr left in charge of the mad house gets the blame?
and not only that, you want her "held to account" and struck off for good.

But the Health Sec, CEO, senior management etc etc all get off and keep their shinny pensions.

I have read that the doctor assumed the boy was DNR because he had DS. If this is true, why would she believe a boy was DNR just because he had DS? I’m sure I’ve missed something.

The whole thing comes across as a classic cluster fuck and people need to be held accountable. I was born and raised with the NHS and always loved it but it really seems to be collapsing now.

I have been gone from the U.K. well over 45 yrs and live in the U.S. and for most of my time here I have advocated for a system similar to the NHS here, but now I see it would never work in the U.S.

The beds/ patients were moved around.

Endof

Charolais the patients were moved around and the doctor was not informed so when Jack arrested she thought he was the child who was in that bed earlier in the day - presumably the other child was DNR

I don't want people scapegoated. How exactly has she been held to account if she will be allowed to return to practicing medicine?

Because for what she'd done, normally it'd be a suspension and a return to work with conditions (eg. she must always have a consultant on site, she must not work in acute care) and that her progression would he halted. The difference here is that she's been nailed for things that were down to other people.

Endof, so very sorry 💐

It appears that two patients were mixed up because for some reason a game of musical beds was being played. The whole thing was a complete clusterfuck. And, yes, the mother is keeping very quiet about the drugs she apparently administered against clinical advice.

In fairness to the mother, she said on the Panorama documentary last night that she asked a nurse to check with a doctor whether she was able to give him enalapril at his usual time. The nurse came back saying that a doctor (not Bawa-Garba) said that yes mum could, but that the nurse could not give it because it was not on the hospital prescription chart.

Whether that was Nurse Amaro, we don't know. And who that doctor is, we don't know.

If no one knows which doctor said it was ok to give then it's not relevant to this doctor or nurse, it clearly wasn't either of them. The doctor who said it was ok may not have had the full facts so may have just been answering a simple question of whether it's ok for a parent to give a tablet the child usually has at home.

Charolais the patients were moved around and the doctor was not informed so when Jack arrested she thought he was the child who was in that bed earlier in the day - presumably the other child was DNR

I see, but shouldn’t she have checked his wrist band? Here they always check wrist bands before treating. They use a little device now that scans them because patients get moved around, even wander into the wrong room.

Too many mistakes were made and people do need to be held accountable.

@Charolais she wasnt the only person at the arrest, lots of staff were. Nooone challenged the dr straight away they just took her word for it. Resus was only briefly paused and was felt not to have contributed to Jacks death.

Endof

I don't want people scapegoated. How exactly has she been held to account if she will be allowed to return to practicing medicine?

Because she's been convicted for manslaughter. That's not some pissy little wrist slap. Added to which she was prevented from practice for years.

WRT the DNR, that was an error on her part and she admits it was. However, there's no question of it having contributed to the death. The issue of accountability for that error has been more than dealt with.

Also here in the U.S it has been my experience that no medications from home can be administered while a person is a hospital patient. Family and patients don’t always have drug contradiction information at their fingertips. Here all drugs are administered by nurses/doctors only.

That policy probably could have save the lad’s life by the sound of it.

Again, this Dr is going to be allowed to return to medicine at the end of her suspension.
Thanks to whywhywhywhywhy for your insight into what sanctions might normally apply in similar circumstances

Going by information provided earlier on this it seems that this hospital was unusual in allowing patients to receive medication previously prescribed but not on the drug chart made up after admission to hospital. Dr BG was not aware of the unusual approach taken by this hospital as she had no induction. They have since changed that policy.

Possibly. This hospital had a very bizarre and unusual policy wrt medications, which again isn't the fault of the doctor here.

Apparently, it was the mother who gave the child the unprescribed enalapril which resulted in a big drop in blood pressure. The doctor was never made aware of this & IMO, has become a scapegoat.
Perhaps the mother can't accept she may have played a part in her child's downfall?
My heart bleeds for both the doctor & the mother.
Jack Adcock, RIP my love.

Again, this Dr is going to be allowed to return to medicine at the end of her suspension.

Yes. None of this means she hasn't been more than held to account for the matter though. She's been punished disproportionately and for systemic failures, and her conviction for gross negligence manslaughter stands.

Dr Bawa-Garba was not responsible for the IT crash.

She was not responsible for the poor record keeping by ward staff and she was not responsible for allowing the administration of the enalapril.

The mother insisted on administering the enalapril which sank Jack's already low blood pressure even further.

Dr Bawa-Garba should have spotted the shonked kidney results when she was listening to the results over the 'phone and she should have prescribed antibiotics when she noted the high CRP reading and the lung infection.

The resuscitation was stopped only momentarily and made no difference to the outcome.

This was a clusterfuck of poor infrastructure, low staffing, high patient turnover and a mum who thought she knew better than the doctor.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/the_struck_off_doctor

Dreadful.

Afraid I disagree with that POV MingeUterus, sorry. I’ve now read the full thread as suggested and various other sources linked to and outside. Clearly there were systemic failings, fewer staff than a safe level, hospital policy at fault and some shocking practice by more than one person. None of this means that the individual isn’t responsible for what they do, or do not do, and for gross negligence manslaughter a suspended sentence seems pretty meaningless.

Sorry.

Meant to add this.

Yes, it is right the doctor should have received some sanction but being struck off for life was too harsh.

The consultant who managed to double book needs to have some sort of 'in house' reprimand.

The IT and Informatics people need to have a review of their service if the IT crash which caused a loss of critical services is a regular thing.

If it turns out that it had a preventable cause, then someone needs a reprimand also.

What did Dr B-G do that wasn’t a reflection of the working conditions though?

You disagree with the view that she's been punished disproportionately Louise? It'll be interesting to hear how you reconcile that with the information others have given you about the way cases like this are usually dealt with.

She's been scapegoated, that's a fact. It doesn't matter whether you agree with it or not. I was correct in my initial assessment that what you're advocating for is further scapegoating. That harms us all.

What did Dr B-G do that wasn’t a reflection of the working conditions though?

She should have escalated his blood gas (pH of around 7, lactate of 11) immediately to either one of the HDU or ITU consultants. She's admitted as much. It's something a medical student would be expected to know.

That's why she'll require conditions when she returns to work. That's why people aren't asking for her conviction to go away. However, it's not in the range of automatic strike off.

The verdict of gross negligence manslaughter was arrived at after a trial at which, iirc, the systemic failing evidence was not allowed by the prosecution. (Terminology all wrong there, sorry)

If the jury had heard it the verdict might well have been different & IMO it should now be appealed.