MANCHESTER—A doctor who received a suspended jail sentence over the death of a 6-year-old boy can return to unrestricted practice, a medical tribunal has ruled.
Dr Hadiza Bawa-Garba returned to work last November for the first time in 5 years after a raft of conditions were imposed on her registration.
In November 2015 a jury convicted her of gross negligence manslaughter in her treatment of Jack Adcock, who developed sepsis and died of cardiac arrest at Leicester Royal Infirmary in February 2011.
A month later she was sentenced to 2 years in jail, suspended for the same period.
Conditions ‘Not in the Public Interest’
On Friday, she was informed at a Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) hearing there were no longer any outstanding concerns over her clinical practice, and it was not in the public interest to maintain the conditions.
Among her failures in Jack’s treatment were making an incorrect diagnosis of gastroenteritis on initial examination of the youngster – who had Down’s syndrome and a heart condition – and not acting on a clinical reading which “ought to have been a clear indicator”.
The doctor was “on the cusp” of becoming a consultant before the incident, as a specialist registrar.
Dr Bawa-Garba was barred from practice for 12 months before the General Medical Council (GMC) took the case to the High Court to appeal against the sanction, saying it was “not sufficient”, and Dr Bawa-Garba was struck off in January 2018.
Later, the Court of Appeal ruled her name should be restored to the medical register and her case sent back to the MPTS.
