A DOCTOR from Woodford Green, who refused to visit a seriously ill patient hours before she died, was found guilty of serious professional misconduct by the General Medical Council (GMC) on Tuesday.

GP Niranjanbhai Patel had been prescribing a high dose oral contraceptive pill, which can cause a fatal blood clot, to 48-year-old Barbara Smith for eight years without performing a regular health check.

On March 11, 1999, Mrs Smith's husband called Dr Patel's East Ham practise saying his wife was suffering from shortness of breath, a classic symptom of deep vein thrombosis (DVT).

Dimissing Mr Smith's worries Dr Patel told him he was overreacting and panicking about his wife's health.

But later that day Barbara Smith passed away at Newham General Hospital after the blood clot stopped her lungs from functioning.

The doctor, who escaped being struck off, was ordered to carry out an educational programme and a formal assessment during the next 18 months.

The committee chairman Dr Andrew Fergusson said: "You failed to conduct an appropriate examination of Mrs Smith on more than one occasion and in particular you failed to recognise the signs of serious deterioration in her health.

"We have concluded that it is proportionate and necessary for the protection of members of the public to impose conditions on your registration."

The committee found that Dr Patel, of Hillington Gardens, also failed to take into account Mrs Smith's symptoms when she visited his surgery on three separate occasions during February and March 1999.

Dr Patel claimed his failure to carry out appropriate blood pressure checks on his patient was due to the surgery's flawed repeat prescription service.

July 11, 2002 10:30