Cancer surgeon found guilty of dishonesty may be struck off

Tumour op lies surgeon faces axe

A neurosurgeon at a Scottish hospital who lied that he had removed a woman's brain tumour has been found guilty of repeated dishonest conduct and could now be struck off.

Emmanuel Labram, who worked at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, convinced the patient to seek further treatment by insisting she was cured for two years after the procedure.

Labram misled the woman and her husband when he assured them everything was fine after operating on her in September 2008. He continued the deception by lying to colleagues and forging documents.

However, in 2010, he told her the lesion had come back. She was forced to seek private treatment, but by that stage the tumour was inoperable.

A Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service panel ruled yesterday the doctor may have genuinely believed he had removed the lesion.

But Labram was found to have committed misleading and dishonest conduct for trying to cover his tracks when he realised this was not the case.

The panel must now decide whether Labram is fit to continue working without restrictions. The harshest penalty available is a lifetime ban from the medical profession.

Craig Sephton, QC, for the General Medical Council, told the panel: "The fact you have found Mr Labram guilty of repeated dishonesty is something you will take into account.

"This panel has found the information that Mr Labram gave to Patient A and her husband was misleading. 'You have not found that information to be dishonest, although you did find Mr Labram ought to have known what he was saying was misleading. 

"In the context of this particular case the key issue is not the fact he was dishonest, but the fact his dishonesty may have led to ill consequences for her because she was not given the treatment she required because Labram was concealing from her that she needed the treatment.

"What Mr Labram did is properly classified as misconduct and, secondly, this panel should be in no doubt it was misconduct of such gravity and to such an extent and of repeated behaviour that it was misconduct that represents an impairment of Mr Lebram's fitness to practise."

The panel had heard that after developing double vision on holiday in November 2007, Patient A consulted her optician and was referred to the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.

An MRI scan revealed a tumour about one inch in diameter in an area in her brain known as the cavernous sinus and she saw Lebram to discuss her options in June 2008.

She decided to go ahead with an operation and underwent surgery at the hands of Labram on September 2.

The patient told the tribunal she went to Labram to find out what was wrong inside her head, adding: "If there was a good chance of removing the tumour that's fantastic. That's how I felt.

"He explained how he would open up my head and try to remove the tumour and, obviously, the biopsy would be taken and sent to the pathologist and we would find out what type of tumour it is."

After the operation Mr Labram told her it had been a success and explained to her husband that the tumour was "100%" gone.

In fact, only four tiny hard pale fragments had been taken out, which could not even be used to determine what the tumour was.

In January 2009, the surgeon altered a pathology report and sent a forged copy to his patient to conceal the fact she might need further treatment.

In May 2010 he told her he did not know the tumour was present when he operated on her and gave her another doctored pathology report with the author's signature "cut and pasted" in.

An investigation was then ordered, but Labram was allowed to continue working until last October, when he took early retirement.

The hearing continues.