Doctor suspended after telling suicidal patient to ‘kill herself’

Published 22nd September 2014

A doctor based in Liverpool has been suspended after he told a patient who was threatening to kill herself to “go and jolly well do it now".

Dr Arun Singhal, a GP based in Huyton, Liverpool, has been suspended for three months after a patient recorded the conversation on her phone. The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) hearing in Manchester decided that his actions had amounted to serious misconduct.

Unaware that the patient was recording the whole thing on her mobile phone, Dr Singhal went on to tell her: “If you don’t know how to do it, it’s on the internet how to do it.”

The incident occurred months after the woman, referred to as Patient A, had seen Dr Singhal to tell him that her anti-depressant medication wasn’t working and that she was contemplating killing herself.

In December 2011 she told him that she needed a sick note as she was scared of the prospect of giving evidence in court as a witness in a rape trial. Patient a was told that she would have to pay for the note.

At this point, the hearing heard how the woman told Dr Singhal that she was thinking about committing suicide, to which he replied: “You can go and jolly well do it now.”

MPTS panel chair Eileen Carr said that his comments were “totally unacceptable and inappropriate”.

She added: “The panel finds his conduct fell well below the standards expected of a medical practitioner and is satisfied that his behaviour amounts to serious misconduct.”

To the panel’s disappointment, Dr Singhal did not give evidence, provide an apology, or even attend the hearing.

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