Doctor struck off as abortion nearly kills Irish woman
A GYNAECOLOGIST who botched the termination of an Irishwoman’s pregnancy and left her fighting for her life, has been struck off in Britain.
Dr Phanuel Dartey perforated the uterus of the unidentified woman and left parts of a foetus inside her at the Marie Stopes Internatonal Clinic in Ealing where he worked.
She returned home but was later taken to hospital where she remained on the critical list for two months.
Dr Dartley also used innovative laser surgery to enhance women's sex lives and botched surgery on five patients.
A disciplinary panel ruled Dr Phanuel Dartey posed a risk to the public with his deficient practices and his dishonesty, which led to it concluding "his integrity cannot be relied upon".
He was found guilty of misconduct over his treatment of four women at his private Harley Street clinic involving his techniques of laser vaginal rejuvenation to heighten sexual gratification and designer laser vaginoplasty to improve the aesthetics of the vagina.
The Ghanaian surgeon, who qualified in the former Soviet Union, had no valid medical indemnity insurance at the time.
Dr Dartey made headlines in several newspaper and magazine articles two years ago with reports of his "G-Shot" jabs which are said to be able to enlarge the G-spot.
Some of the complainants visited his clinic at the Queen Anne Street Medical Centre between 2008 and 2009 following media coverage of his work.
But the General Medical Council said they were to suffer "unforeseen and distressing consequences" from the cosmetic surgery.
One patient told the fitness to practise hearing she had to undergo revision surgery after part of her vagina was effectively amputated.
She said she still had heavy scarring and described Dr Dartey as a "maverick" who did what he wanted.
Another woman, a mother-of-five, said she had "never regretted anything so much in my life" after visiting his clinic.
She said her minor incontinence became a "major problem" following Dr Dartey's surgery and although it had been corrected she still suffered ongoing complications.
Both women had paid up to £5,000 for the initial procedures.
The hearing was told that Dr Dartey produced a forged certificate of Medical Protection Society membership to the clinic operators.
Panel chairman Dr Robin Knill-Jones said: "In the panel's judgement the deficiencies in Dr Dartey's practice and his dishonesty present a risk to patients and the public. His integrity cannot be relied upon."
He added: "There is a continuing risk to patients from the way Dr Dartey conducts his practice. His dishonest actions in relation to professional indemnity were a serious abuse of the trust that his patients and those with whom he worked were entitled to place in him.
"The panel considers that the extent and seriousness of Dr Dartey's clinical misconduct, the gravity of his dishonesty and his subsequent lack of insight evidence a harmful attitudinal problem."
Dr Dartey, of St Martin's Road, Edmonton, London, did not attend the hearing in Manchester.
Explaining his absence, he wrote the GMC had "violated my human rights" and he would take legal action on the matter and over alleged racial discrimination in his "fight for justice".
In other letters he said he could not afford to come to Manchester after the hearing was switched from London and that he was due to have surgery himself.
When initially told of the complaints against him he told the GMC his accusers were making up the allegations.
He called one a "racially prejudiced, pathological liar" who suffered post-operative hallucinations and was hell-bent on destroying his career.
The panel found there was no basis for his claims.
Dr Knill-Jones said: "Each of the five patients with which this inquiry has been concerned has suffered from the events in question. In his written communications to the GMC Dr Dartey has shown little remorse or acknowledgement of, or insight into, his failures.
"He has rather adopted a derogatory attitude towards his patients, accusing one of racism, another of blackmail, a third of causing her own problems by failing to follow his advice and another of reporting him to the GMC because she wanted free corrective surgery for an unrelated problem.
"The panel has found no substance in any of these complaints and regards Dr Dartey's lack of insight as a matter of serious concern."
In four of the cases his standard of surgery fell below that to be expected of a reasonably competent surgeon or gynaecologist, the panel found.
Consenting procedures were inadequate and he had failed to communicate effectively with the GPs of the four women who attended his Harley Street clinic.
Dr Knill-Jones said: "The panel noted that some of these procedures were relatively novel to British surgical practice and the panel regards his failure to inform the GPs as a serious departure from proper professional standards."
- Kim Pilling
Press Association
