Ex-chairman of the British Medical Association 'failed to warn patients about risks'
September 20, 2010
Posted by:Suzanne Trask
The Guardian reports that Dr James Johnson, 64, a vascular surgeon at the Halton NHS hospital in Runcorn, Cheshire, is accused of failing to warn patients about the possible risks of certain procedures, serious misconduct in some operations and shouting at a patient and staff who were helping him.
The disciplinary hearing at the General Medical Council is due to start on Monday 20th September in Manchester. A summary of the charges states that a fitness to practice hearing "will inquire into the allegation that between June 2006 and January 2008 Dr James Johnson performed a number of operations on patients and did not make the patients aware of the potential risks and benefits of surgery. It is also alleged [that] some of the operations were not surgically appropriate, in the patients' interests or performed correctly." "It is also alleged [that] Dr Johnson failed to involve himself properly in patients' post-operative care. He failed to communicate appropriately with his colleagues and patients and, on one occasion in January 2008, shouted at a patient and staff assisting him."
In July the GMC imposed conditions on his registration, including that "with the exception of varicose vein surgery, he must not carry out any other vascular surgery procedures", must remain under the supervision of a supervisor at the Halton hospital and must tell any other potential employer about the conditions.
Johnson was the public face of the BMA, which represents 140,000 doctors, for almost half of the 19-month period in which the GMC is investigating his conduct. He typically worked at its London headquarters from Monday to Thursday and practised as a surgeon on Fridays.
He became the BMA leader in July 2003 but resigned suddenly in May 2007 after a grassroots revolt was sparked when he gave the union's support to the then chief medical officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, in the protracted row over the government's attempt to overhaul junior doctors' training through the heavily-criticised Modernising Medical Careers Initiative.