Dr Arun Singhal suspended for telling patient to kill herself

[Fleury]

A doctor who told a patient who was threatening to kill herself to "go and jolly well do it now" has been suspended for three months.

The actions of Dr Arun Singhal, a GP in Huyton, Liverpool, amounted to serious misconduct, the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) found.
He also told the woman she could look up how to kill herself on the internet.

Dr Singhal was unaware that she had recorded the conversation on her mobile phone. He did not attend the tribunal.
The MPTS hearing in Manchester heard that in May 2011 the woman, referred to as Patient A, told Dr Singhal she felt like killing herself and her anti-depressant medication was not working.

He told her words to the effect that she should go home and kill herself, the hearing heard.

'Totally unacceptable'In December 2011 she asked Dr Singhal for a sick note because she was frightened to give evidence as a witness in a rape trial, but he refused unless she paid for it.

When she told him she was contemplating suicide, the hearing heard that he told her: "You can go and jolly well do it now."
Dr Singhal then said: 'If you don't know how to do it, it's on the internet how to do it."

MPTS panel chair Eileen Carr said while Dr Singhal's medical treatment of Patient A had not been called into question his comments to a patient with a history of mental health concerns were "totally unacceptable and inappropriate".

She said: "The panel finds his conduct fell well below the standards expected of a medical practitioner and is satisfied that his behaviour amounts to serious misconduct."
The panel was disappointed it had not heard from Dr Singhal during its proceedings, with no evidence of an apology, insight or remediation.

More on This Story


https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-merseyside-29254609

 

[Stan Lee]

How many days, months, years :unknw:

 

[User-E]

Classic Version of the Hippocratic Oath

I swear by Apollo Physician and Asclepius and Hygieia and Panaceia and all the gods and goddesses, making them my witnesses, that I will fulfil according to my ability and judgment this oath and this covenant:

To hold him who has taught me this art as equal to my parents and to live my life in partnership with him, and if he is in need of money to give him a share of mine, and to regard his offspring as equal to my brothers in male lineage and to teach them this art - if they desire to learn it - without fee and covenant; to give a share of precepts and oral instruction and all the other learning to my sons and to the sons of him who has instructed me and to pupils who have signed the covenant and have taken an oath according to the medical law, but no one else.

I will apply dietetic measures for the benefit of the sick according to my ability and judgment; I will keep them from harm and injustice.

I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody who asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect. Similarly I will not give to a woman an abortive remedy. In purity and holiness I will guard my life and my art.

I will not use the knife, not even on sufferers from stone, but will withdraw in favor of such men as are engaged in this work.

Whatever houses I may visit, I will come for the benefit of the sick, remaining free of all intentional injustice, of all mischief and in particular of sexual relations with both female and male persons, be they free or slaves.


What I may see or hear in the course of the treatment or even outside of the treatment in regard to the life of men, which on no account one must spread abroad, I will keep to myself, holding such things shameful to be spoken about.

If I fulfil this oath and do not violate it, may it be granted to me to enjoy life and art, being honored with fame among all men for all time to come; if I transgress it and swear falsely, may the opposite of all this be my lot.

A Modern Version of the Hippocratic Oath

I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant:

I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.

I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures which are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism.

I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug.

I will not be ashamed to say "I know not," nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient's recovery.

I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God.

I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick.

I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure.

I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm.

If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help.

The classical version of the Hippocratic Oath is from the translation from the Greek by Ludwig Edelstein. From The Hippocratic Oath: Text, Translation, and Interpretation, by Ludwig Edelstein. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1943.

The modern version of the Hippocratic Oath was written in 1964 by Louis Lasagna, Dean of the School of Medicine at Tufts University.

https://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=20909

 

[Leo]

Thanks OP and Sarah

 

[oldguyzer]

Damn, so that's what that was. I thought it was the Hypocritical Oath, and I had several beers in me at the time.

 

[Robintheboywonder]

I think it's the same doc Batman use to see. That explains the idiotic behavior and suicidal tendencies he had.