Former Bantry General Hospital radiologist guilty of poor professional performance

A radiologist who made serious errors in a number of his CT scan reports was last night found guilty of poor professional performance at a medical inquiry in Dublin. The matter of sanctions against him will be determined at a later date.

Dawar Siddiqi, who worked as a locum consultant radiologist at Bantry General Hospital between May and September 2013, faced the allegation of poor professional performance in the ongoing fitness to practice inquiry at the Medical Council in Dublin.

Specifically, it was alleged that Dr Siddiqi made serious errors in one or more of 20 cases identified by an expert. The cases included patients who were facing a number of serious issues, including a potential brain tumour, and the serious threat of cancer in the lymph nodes.

The inquiry committee determined last night that Dr Siddiqi made serious errors in 11 of these cases.

In his closing submissions yesterday, JP McDowell, legal counsel for the Medical Council, said the most concerning aspect of this inquiry “is the lack of insight displayed by Dr Siddiqi into his own shortcomings”.

Mr McDowell reminded the inquiry that Dr Siddiqi conceded that, prior to taking up the post in Bantry, he did not have any independent CT reporting skills.

Mr McDowell also reminded the inquiry that Dr Siddiqi admitted last week that CT reporting was the weaker part of his skill set.

Despite the mitigating factors in terms of work environment and conditions, Mr McDowell said the hospital was entitled to rely on Dr Siddiqi’s competence and ability to do the job for which he was hired, as he had led them to believe that he had the relevant experience.

In his closing submissions, Dr Siddiqi argued he has been at a disadvantage in the inquiry, as he has been legally representing himself.

“Please consider the handicaps which I am having to face in this inquiry from day one,” he said.

The radiologist defended his competence, arguing: “I have proven my skills in the period before and after [Bantry]”. Therefore, he said, the issue must lie with the hospital and not with himself.

“I have already suffered a lot at the hands of the Medical Council and CUH [Cork University Hospital, which now has remit for Bantry]. This is what I want to bring to your notice, that the procedures applied to me were totally unfair,” said Dr Siddiqi.

Two final witnesses gave evidence to the inquiry yesterday, both of whom worked with Dr Siddiqi in Bantry.

During the cross-examination on Monday, Dr Siddiqi raised the possibility that he had not authored all of the reports under question, as he claimed that not all of them had been verified.

However, Roisin O’Carroll, the radiography services manager at Bantry General Hospital, yesterday confirmed Dr Siddiqi was indeed the author of the three reports under question.

On Monday, Mr McDowell questioned Dr Siddiqi over a patient who was facing a serious threat that cancer had spread to the lymph nodes. Dr Siddiqi defended himself in this case on Monday by arguing that he wrote an addendum to this report, which contained additional information. Yesterday, Ms O’Carroll confirmed there was only one report for this patient, and that there was no addendum.

“This is the only report for this patient. We don’t have any other reports for this patient,” Ms O’Carroll told the inquiry. She also confirmed, in two other cases Dr Siddiqi queried, there were no changes, and they were written by him.

Teresa O’Donovan, former general manager of Bantry General Hospital, told the inquiry yesterday about her interactions with Dr Siddiqi. He asked her about the conversation the two of them had in her office in late September 2013, when he was asked to leave the hospital.

“We had a difficult conversation that night, Dr Siddiqi, and you said you were doing your best,” Ms O’Donovan said.

Dr Siddiqi was hired to work as a locum consultant radiologist at Bantry for the period between May and November 2013. However, because of concerns from the hospital, he ceased working there in September 2013.

Throughout the inquiry, Dr Siddiqi denied the allegation and insisted that his circumstances constituted serious mitigating factors.

He was not present for the inquiry ruling last night.