Anaesthetist accused of incompetence

The GMC is investigating allegations of misconduct

An anaesthetist at the centre of a probe over a 10-year-old boy's death during a routine tooth extraction has been accused of "incompetence and a shocking lack of professional standards."

Dr John Evans-Appiah had clearly disregarded the welfare of Darren Denholm, the General Medical Council investigation heard on Thursday.

In her closing speech, Rebecca Poulet, QC, for the GMC, claimed Dr Evans-Appiah was incompetent, absent-minded and "said anything to get himself off the hook".

The 58-year-old denies 10 charges relating to the death of Darren Denholm, from Armadale, West Lothian, at the Peffermill Clinic in Edinburgh two years ago.

It was almost as if he was not concentrating, as if he was almost absent when a child's life was in his hands

Rebecca Poulet, QC

He also denies six counts of misconduct relating to a painful caesarean operation on Hazel Woolger.

Mrs Poulet said Dr Evans-Appiah had lied about his actions during Darren's tooth extraction by saying that the 10-year-old had been "terrified" of needles and claiming the tragedy had occurred because staff at the Peffermill Clinic were untrained.

The QC said the anaesthetist had said Darren was petrified of needles in a bid to explain why he had not fitted basic monitoring equipment.

But she told the hearing: "All the evidence is that Darren was a perfectly normal, average and brave child who climbed into the dentist's chair without any assistance."

Cardiac arrest

Dr Evans-Appiah had also claimed that he tried to put an intravenous line into Darren's hand during the tooth extraction in an attempt to explain why he failed to notice little Darren flailing his arms and legs in pain.

As Darren was not adequately anaesthetised, the shock to his body from the attempted tooth extraction made his heart to go into spasm and caused a cardiac arrest 15 minutes later, the GMC heard.

Mrs Poulet said Dr Evans-Appiah also failed to follow basic life support procedures.

"It was almost as if he was not concentrating, as if he was almost absent when a child's life was in his hands," she said.

Evans-Appiah: Denies the charges

Mrs Poulet said he had also made a completely wrong diagnosis of Darren's condition.

She accused him of being "very haphazard and very panicky" when it came to resuscitation.

And she said Dr Evans-Appiah also attempted to cover up his failings by blaming a local anaesthetic - even though he later denied that Darren even received a local anaesthetic.

The QC said Dr Evans-Appiah also made up a story that Mrs Woolger, 32, from Kent, "turned blue" during the operation to remove her baby by caesarean section.

Sliced open

She said he should never have instructed the surgeon to go ahead with the operation, which involved the mother-of-five's abdomen being sliced open.

She had already clearly said she still had feeling from her groin upwards just before the operation - which took place three weeks after Darren's death.

Born in Ghana, Dr Evans-Appiah had held some 42 posts since arriving in the UK in the early 1970s.

The inquiry was due to hear a speech from Dr Evans-Appiah's defence counsel, Miss Christina Lambert, on Thursday afternoon.

The hearing continues.