GP jailed for falsifying papers after patient began to sue him

A FAMILY doctor has been jailed for eight months after falsifying paperwork to make it appear he had visited a sick patient before her condition deteriorated.

Puthyadthu Kartha Venugopal, who was one of two partners at the Newland Surgery in Normanton, Wakefield, created the documents after the patient, Janet Moore, began to sue him and he discovered his professional indemnity insurance had lapsed.

He then maintained his dishonest account at the subsequent civil hearing but his version was rejected by the judge hearing that case in 2008 who concluded the doctor had not visited Mrs Moore as he claimed.

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Jonathan Sharp prosecuting, told Leeds Crown Court the police were then involved and Dr Venu as he was known, was arrested.

Venugopal, 61, of The Mount, Wakefield, admitted attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Jailing him yesterday, the Recorder of Leeds, Judge Peter Collier QC said he accepted the doctor had been a medical practitioner held in high standing and considered by many of his patients to be an excellent GP.

But his was a serious and prolonged attempt to avoid a finding against him in civil proceedings.

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"Unfortunately in early 2000 your practice was not as well maintained as it might have been and your professional indemnity insurance lapsed."

Faced in 2004 with a claim by a patient based on his failing to visit her and an abscess not being detected and treated as quickly as it might have been, leading to her significant disability he concocted paperwork to resist the case.

Quoting Sir Walter Scott at the defendant, the judge said: "Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practise to deceive.

"One lie had to be followed by another, one false document required further false documents in a hopeless attempt to give credibility to your account. You went to court and insisted on oath it was true but you were disbelieved by the judge.

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"The outcome is that you not only lost the civil claim, you lost your good name."

He accepted medical evidence showed that Venugopal had been suffering from depression and stress but there had to be a jail term.

Mr Sharp said Mrs Moore was admitted to hospital in August 2001 for a partial colectomy. The resection failed and she developed peritonitis and other complications.

She was eventually discharged home in a frail state on December 4, 2001. A deputising service visited her on December 6 and recommended a GP visit her the next day.

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She was readmitted to hospital on December 12 having by then developed an epidural abscess that had significantly advanced, had she been admitted on December 7 it would "on the balance of probabilities have been detected and treated".

The delay resulted in her developing a significant disability. She later sought legal advice and began proceedings.

Mr Sharp said no doubt to his horror Dr Venu realised his insurance had lapsed. After putting his head in the sand for some months he began to "apply himself to creating a paper trail" that he hoped would show he had visited Mrs Moore on December 7, 10 and 12.

He removed sheets from the practice's daily visit record and typed out new ones but the torn originals were found by a receptionist who handed them over to the practice manager. He also forged a supposed referral letter to Pinderfields Hospital.

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He also pretended he had written a visit to Mrs Moore by mistake in another J. Moore's records.

Andrew Haslam for Venugopal handed in references from patients and a letter from local MP Ed Balls indicating the doctor's good work and his receipt of a Glory of India award for his services to health in the area.