An Indian-origin doctor has been accused of mishandling post-mortem reports and is under police investigation to check if charges of any criminal offence need to be brought against him.
Khaleed Ahmed, who worked as a histopathologist for Pennine Acute NHS Trust at the Royal Oldham Hospital in Manchester, carried out an undisclosed number of post-mortem tests for the north Manchester Coroner’s office, the Telegraph reported.
Several inquests in which Ahmed’s tests would have been crucial are now being kept on hold, after a review of 38 post-mortem examinations done by Prof. Simon Kim Suvarna found “major professional deficiency,” the Manchester Evening News reported.
Pennine Acute initiated an audit to inspect the quality of Ahmed’a NHS work after concerns were raised by a senior coroner in May 2017. Suvarna began reviewing a sample of his 38 post-mortem reports, and pointed out “multiple and significant deficiencies with Dr Ahmed’s reports that exist at many levels,” according to MEN.
The review revealed that he committed errors such as recording the wrong cause of patients’ death, misidentifying organs and even potentially mixing up bodies, the Daily Telegraph reported.
Suvarna’s review would help in understanding if Ahmed’s reports for the ongoing inquests should be considered.
According to his review, Ahmed failed to identify the patient’s name in his reports. He has also been accused of indicating wrong reasons of death as well.
“Starting with the external examinations, it would appear that Dr Ahmed has not confirmed the patient’s identity, which is a major professional deficiency.
“Such identification is standard practice across the United Kingdom,” the report said, according to the publication.
Suvarna’s report also reveals that he added “minimal” commentary on bodily organs which were operated and diagnosed for cancers previously, and failed to “identify and appreciate the significance” of several body organs which could have been the key factor for the reports.
The final “summary text” is missing in many cases, the report said, adding that concerns arise “that the wrong slides have been considered,” the publication quoted.
“The overall failure to correctly interpret macroscopic, histological and other data has meant that the final cause of death in most cases reviewed was incorrect,” the review states.
“Dr Ahmed’s reports are inadequate and do not even meet the standards that are expected for pathology students to pass the autopsy component of the final exam.
“It is clear the cases reviewed are but a fraction of Dr Ahmed’s work, which go back over many years.
“I have significant doubts with regard to the validity of all of this man’s reports while he was working as a consultant in Manchester,” MEN cited the review as stating.
A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said: “GMP is assessing what, if any, criminal offences may have been committed in relation to findings presented to the coroner.”
Ahmed studied medicine in Bengaluru in 1989 and no longer works for the trust. The General Medical Council said he is still licensed to practice as a histopathologist, the Dailymail reported.