GP suspended for faking assault to remove patient
GP fakes assault to remove patient, suspended for a year
A GP has been suspended for a year after falsely accusing a patient of assault to remove him from the surgery’s records.
Dr Gurkirit Kalkat, aged 58, invited the patient to Thames View Medical Centre in Dagenham, Essex, for an appointment in February 2020.
Instead of conducting a medical examination, Dr Kalkat threw himself against the door and hit his chest while shouting, “Stop hitting me, ow! You’re attacking me!” He then pressed the panic button.
GP who beat himself up to frame patient is suspended. Gurkirit Kalkat threw himself against a door and said ‘stop hitting me’, tribunal toldhttps://t.co/KIsBMXf2a9
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The patient, who remained seated and bewildered by the bizarre spectacle, was handcuffed and taken home by the police.
Investigations revealed that Dr Kalkat wanted the patient, who had drug issues, off the surgery’s records because the practice was merging with another.
Dr Kalkat, from Loughton, was found guilty of serious professional misconduct and received a 12-month suspension. He denied any wrongdoing.
The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service heard that he lied to the patient about having terminal blood cancer to persuade him to register with another GP and spent over £40,000 of his own money on the patient’s rehabilitation.
During an earlier consultation, the patient secretly recorded Dr Kalkat falsely claiming he had six months to live and offering £15,000 to leave the practice.
However, the tribunal learned that Patient A did not register with another surgery. On February 3, 2020, he was called in for an appointment where the fake assault took place.
The patient recounted: “I went in for my appointment, and he gave me four weeks of prescriptions. Then he threw himself against the door, put his fist on his chest, and said, ‘stop hitting me.’”
“I laughed, thinking it was a joke. But then he asked his receptionist, ‘you just saw him hit me, didn’t you?’ She replied, ‘yes, I did.’ He then told me, ‘now you have used violence, you have to leave my surgery.’”
“I said, ‘what are you doing? Is this some sick joke?’ I realised he was trying to remove me from his books because he had lied about dying of blood cancer and tried to bribe me to change surgery.”
“The receptionist told Dr Kalkat to press the emergency button. He walked past me and did so while I remained seated.”
“Both police officers who arrived believed me and not Dr Kalkat. I was released without charge. Dr Kalkat admitted to one officer that he had lied about having cancer to blackmail me into leaving his surgery.”
“Dr Kalkat made it look like I hit him, but he was punching himself while shouting that I was attacking him. I didn’t touch Dr Kalkat; I stayed in my chair the entire time.”
Dr Kalkat did not attend the MPTS hearing, citing safety concerns due to Patient A’s “volatile” behaviour, and instead submitted written statements through a lawyer.
The receptionist, who was alleged to witness the incident, was unavailable or unable to give a formal statement.
MPTS chairman Mr Stephen Killen stated: “Patient A gave oral evidence on all events, with the prospect of cross-examination. He consistently maintained that he had not assaulted Dr Kalkat.”
“Dr Kalkat had been taking increasingly inappropriate, desperate, and dishonest actions to get Patient A to register elsewhere.”
“The Tribunal noted that it had not heard directly from Dr Kalkat and could not test his evidence via questioning. Considering all available evidence, it was more likely than not that Dr Kalkat’s report of assault was untrue.”
“The preponderance of the evidence suggested that Dr Kalkat engineered the incident to have Patient A removed from his list.”
