A Hove doctor facing misconduct charges over his angry and aggressive behaviour has been found to have acted dishonestly.
Dr David Heal even confronted a witness at the misconduct hearing shortly after he had finished giving evidence about Dr Heal.
A General Medical Council (GMC) Fitness to Practise Panel found that Dr Heal’s “angry and uncontrolled behaviour has caused both members of the public and a colleague to experience fear and distress”.
The GMC panel criticised his behaviour in threatening to kill one speed camera operator, hitting him on the hand, and abusing another speed camera operator on a separate occasion.
Both incidents took place in Hove.
One of the speed gun incidents led to a conviction for common assault for Dr Heal at Brighton Magistrates’ Court earlier this year.
His behaviour during the incident “was inappropriate and likely to bring the medical profession into disrepute”, the panel said.
He was also also found to have
- pushed over an elderly woman patient from Hove as he tried to force her into an ambulance
- walked out during a complex patient handover to another doctor at the end of a shift and
- failed to tell the GMC that he was working – unsupervised – at a hospital in Banbury, Oxfordshire
He was not supposed to work unsupervised having been suspended by the GMC’s Interim Orders Panel.
Dr Heal admitted many of the charges against him and blamed a medical condition for some of his behaviour.
The panel did not believe that his medical problems were to blame and found that his fitness to practice was impaired.
The panel said that his conduct had substantially departed from the profession’s rules – known as Good Medical Practice – on a number of occasions in four critical areas
- providing good clinical care
- the doctor-patient partnership
- respect for colleagues
- being honest and trustworthy
The panel told Dr Heal: “Your behaviour has fallen seriously short of the standard expected of a registered medical practitioner.
“You have through omissions, half-truths and lies been dishonest in your conduct with an employer, the GMC’s Investigation Section, the Interim Orders Panel, this panel, and the police.
“You continue to have a marked lack of insight into your behaviour and the consequences of your actions both for you and in relation to others.
“The panel has concluded that you have demonstrated a disregard for patients’ rights and of the public’s right to have confidence in medical practitioners.”
Dr Heal used to work for Sussex Medical Chambers in New Church Road, Hove, and is currently suspended from practising.
He is expected to find out tomorrow whether he will struck off the medical register.
