Sex offender ex-doctor facing probe over LinkedIn

Thursday 31 October 2019

A former Jersey doctor could face a police probe for continuing to suggest he was a medical professional online despite being struck off the register when his past sexual offending emerged.

Dr Emke Fopma, who was consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the Jersey General Hospital for eight years, was stripped of the right to practise in Great Britain by the General Medical Council (GMC) in 2018 – but, more than a year later, his LinkedIn profile still states otherwise.

The GMC say they are now reviewing his case and considering whether to escalate it to the Police.

Dr Fopma was convicted in the Netherlands for indecently assaulting a young patient while she was recovering in hospital in 2004.

Pictured: Dr Fopma worked at the Jersey General Hospital for eight years. 

In the same year, Dr Fopma applied to join the GMC Specialist Register in the UK, but failed to disclose his offending on his form.

He went on to work in Scotland until 2007, before joining Jersey’s General Hospital, where he worked for eight years before stepping down when the Health Department received an anonymous tip-off via email about his offending. 

The case was referred to the Medical Practitioners Tribunal, who concluded in July 2018 that Dr Fopma’s fitness to practise was impaired due to his conviction and that he should have his right to work in Great Britain revoked.

Criticising his “persistent dishonesty”, the Tribunal noted: “Dr Fopma would not have voluntarily disclosed the conviction, and accepted that he would have carried on working, if not for the receipt of the anonymous email in 2015.”

Express has now learned that Dr Fopma challenged that finding in May this year, arguing that his erasure from the register was “disproportionate” given that there was “but a single dishonest act, namely providing the false answers on the application form”.

Pictured: Dr Fopma's current listing on the GMC register, which shows his erasure.

He further argued that, “since there was no explicit specific duty to report criminal convictions stated in the GMC's GMP then in force, the failure to report the conviction should be regarded as somewhat less serious than it might otherwise have been”. 

But Mr Justice Baker, who heard the case, disagreed.  

“The extensive dishonesty in this case, persisting for a long period and going to the heart of Dr Fopma's entitlement to be practising as a doctor and his relations with the GMC as his regulator, is the sort of dishonesty in relation to which, with respect, it would have been surprising to this court if the tribunal had not concluded that erasure was required. Certainly, its conclusion that erasure was required cannot be said to be flawed,” he reasoned as he rejected the appeal.

Despite the two rulings against him, Dr Fopma has continued to display his registration credentials on his LinkedIn profile – something the GMC is now investigating further. 

Having already imposed their “ultimate sanction” on Dr Fopma, a spokesperson for the GMC told Express they would not be able to impose any further penalties, but that the case may be escalated to a higher authority by the registrations team reviewing the matter. 

Pictured: The former consultant orthopaedic surgeon's LinkedIn profile still says he is registered to work in Great Britain.

“It is… a criminal offence for a person who does not hold a licence to practise to hold themselves out as having one, or to engage in conduct calculated to suggest that they do. Section 49 of the Medical Act (1983) sets out the penalty for anyone who falsely implies they are registered with the GMC. If we are made aware of concerns that someone is falsely claiming to be registered and licenced to practise medicine, we would work with the police in respect to this individual.”

Dr Fopma also still appear to be listed as a member of the Jersey Medical Consultants Association. The group did not reply when contacted by Express.

At the time of Dr Fopma’s resignation, Jersey’s Health Department faced scrutiny over its background checks on health professionals. 

Asked about the nature of the current checks and whether there had been any updates to practices in recent years given the government’s pledge to ‘put children first’, a government spokesperson provided the following statement to Express: “All staff recruited to HCS undergo DBS checks whether they are recruited on or off island. The checks range from a ‘Standard’ through to ‘Enhanced’ dependent upon their role. We also operate a rolling re-check programme where staff DBS checks are performed every three years on staff.”