General Medical Council (GMC)

A doctor has been struck off the medical register after he missed four opportunities to arrange an emergency Caesarean for a patient whose baby girl died soon after.

A General Medical Council (GMC) fitness to practise panel decided that Dr Tariq El Faki, a specialist registrar in gynaecology and obstetrics, gave "inadequate and unacceptable care" to Suzanne Maloney, who was eventually induced, as well as two other patients. She was admitted in June 2002 to the Royal Bolton Hospital, and was about to be induced when complications arose.

A Manchester hearing heard how Dr El Faki misinterpreted, on four different occasions, very abnormal readings of the foetal heart rate.

He also ignored a senior house doctor who recommended an emergency Caesarean, instead prescribing the patient a drug called Syntocinon to increase the contraction rate which Nigel Grundy, counsel for the GMC, said should not have been given.

The baby's heart rate fell and she was born dead.

Dr El Faki was also found guilty of misconduct relating to two other cases.

In March 2007 he wrongly increased a dose of Syntocinon, leading to a patient's bladder being damaged, and in August that same year he did not act on another suspicious foetal heart rate reading.

Lindsay Wise from law firm Irwin Mitchell said: "It has taken nearly 7 years since Shauna's death to achieve this outcome, the GMC's decision coming approximately 4 years after settlement of Patrick and Suzanne' Maloney's clinical negligence claim against the Trust. It has achieved a result which was not an option within the ambit of the clinical negligence claim and brings about welcomed closure for the family"

If you've experienced negligent treatment from your doctor you might be entitled to compensation. Visit our Doctor Negligence Claims page or our Pregnancy & Gynaecology Injury Claims page for more information.