GMC delays patient death ruling

Sean Phillips died after surgery at Southampton General Hospital

The General Medical Council has taken the unprecedented move of not revealing its ruling about a doctor convicted of the manslaughter of a patient.

Sean Phillips, 31, of Southampton, died just days after a routine knee operation in June 2000.

Two doctors, Amit Misra and Rajeev Srivastava, were convicted of his manslaughter in April 2003.

The GMC said it would publish its hearing ruling on Dr Srivastava next week, to avoid press speculation.

'Deeply unsatisfactory'

After the two-day hearing ended on Friday evening, Dr Srivastava was told whether or not he could continue to practice medicine.

But, in what the GMC acknowledges was an unprecedented move, the public will not know the outcome until at least Wednesday.

The situation has been described by the clerk of the hearing as "deeply unsatisfactory to all concerned", according to BBC South correspondent Joe Campbell.

He revealed the GMC has said that it does not want to publish the result of this week's hearing into Dr Srivastava until it has been able to "set out the reasons on how it reached the decision in full".

The panel said it was concerned that just publishing the details of the sanctions imposed would lead to "speculation" by the public about how the panel reached its decision.

Toxic shock

Dr Misra, of Priestwood, Bracknell and Dr Srivastava, of Glenchapel Road, Dumfries, Scotland, were convicted of the killing due to gross negligence at Winchester Crown Court.

At the time the court heard how the doctors had not taken Mr Phillip's blood pressure or given him potentially life-saving antibiotics when complications arose.

Mr Phillips, originally from Faversham in Kent, later died of toxic shock syndrome after catching the so-called 'hospital super bug' MRSA.

An appeal failed to overturn the doctors' convictions, for which they received 18-month jail sentences, suspended for two years.

The GMC will consider Dr Misra's case next week.