A doctor’s conduct towards six female patients in Guernsey amounted to misconduct, a medical tribunal has ruled – but he has been told he can continue working as an obstetrician and gynaecologist.
Former MSG consultant Dr Ali Shokouh-Amiri faced a long list of allegations including failing to have a chaperone present during examinations and removing a patient’s ovaries without consent.
However, a number of claims made against were not proven, and the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service has today confirmed that its panel found his “fitness to practise is not impaired”.
He was given a formal warning but is allowed to continue working in the same field.
The Medical Specialist Group employed Mr Shokouh-Amiri as a Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist between October 2016 and August 2019, when he left the partnership, and the island.
Six of his patients in Guernsey made serious allegations against him relating to their treatment, including intimate examinations and surgeries, during that time.
The long list of allegations was shared by the MPTS as it opened a two-week hearing to determine his fitness to practice.
The allegations which were admitted or proven all concerned “over-familiarity with patients, surgical issues, clinical errors, and chaperones”.
These included removing the ovaries of two women without their consent.
He also admitted hugging one patient, and failing to have a chaperone present while carrying out intimate examinations on the same patient on at least three occasions.
Mr Shokouh-Amiri also admitted failing to arrange treatment for another patient, and again he admitted that he failed to have a chaperone present while carrying out intimate examinations on her.
Of the admitted or proven allegations, the MPTS heard they included incidents of “serious misconduct” or were “seriously below the accepted standard” in medical care.
Many other allegations were not admitted or proven.
Mr Shokouh-Amiri’s tribunal commenced last month at the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service in Manchester, with his fate determined by three panel members, led by legally qualified Chair Mr Stephen Gowland.
He was found guilty of misconduct in relation to some of the allegations against him and the MPTS panel determined that a warning should be given.
This warning has been published on the medical register in line with the MPTS’s publication and disclosure policy.
Dr Shokouh-Amiri has not treated any patients in Guernsey since 2019, but he has continued working elsewhere while this process has been ongoing.
He has now been told he can continue to work but he must meet the standards required of a doctor.
“It risks bringing the profession into disrepute”
He was told his previous work and behaviour did not meet the standards required of a doctor and amounted to misconduct.
“It risks bringing the profession into disrepute and it must not be repeated,” said the MPTS in his judgment.
“The required standards are set out in Good medical practice and associated guidance,” it said.
Dr Shokouh-Amiri qualified as a doctor in January 2005, receiving his medical license from Copenhagen University.
He relocated to the UK in 2013, before moving to Guernsey in November 2016 to take up the post of Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist and Head of Gynaecological Oncology, Colposcopy Endometriosis and Minimal Access Surgery at the MSG, working there and at the Princess Elizabeth Hospital.
He became a partner of the MSG in 2017.
Dr Shokouh-Amiri left Guernsey in 2019 and has been working as a Consultant in Obstetric & Gynaecology at Mid and South Essex University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust since November 2022.
The MPTS heard that the General Medical Council “recognises it has been six years since the events and that the Tribunal have several positive testimonials about Dr Shokouh-Amiri and there have been no concerns about his work since he left Guernsey”.
However, the Tribunal also found that Dr Shokouh-Amiri had now shown “specific evidence of insight or remediation”.
“There is an insufficient basis to say that Dr Shokouh-Amiri has fully remediated or that he has gained sufficient insight into what happened,” said the MPTS in its judgment.
“Therefore, the Tribunal cannot be assured that without restriction, there will not be a risk of repetition.”
On behalf of Dr Shokouh-Amiri it was stated that he “accepts the Tribunal’s findings in full and his intention is to move on from these findings and to persuade the Tribunal that he is a safe and effective Doctor who is no longer impaired”.
