NHS faces huge bill for doctor forced out of hospital

A CONSULTANT at a Yorkshire hospital trust is expected to receive a massive compensation payment after she was hounded out of her job by senior colleagues for deciding to have a baby.

Dr Eva Michalak endured five years of harassment and false allegations from senior doctors at Mid Yorkshire Hospitals Trust before being dismissed from her job in 2008.

Yesterday she won an employment tribunal against her former employers, with the panel upholding claims she had been discriminated against because of her sex and race.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The Polish-born doctor said her life had been made a "living hell" by her bosses after she left work in 2003 to have her son.

The 51-year-old was subjected to a campaign in which she was falsely accused of bullying junior doctors and suspended repeatedly before finally being dismissed for no reason in July 2008.

The tribunal also heard that her bosses appointed a locum to cover her workload during her maternity leave, then applied for extra money after claiming that her absence left them with extra duties, pocketing up to 5,000 in the process.

Dr Michalak is now awaiting compensation after being unable to work, and is expected to be recompensed for loss of past and future earnings and injury to feelings.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

A total of 15 respondents from Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust appeared before the 36-day tribunal hearing, including Dr Michalak's head of department and the trust's then medical director.

The tribunal heard that her colleagues at Pontefract General Infirmary devised their underhand plan as a reaction to having to cover her work while she went on maternity leave,

Secret meetings were held, beginning when Dr Michalak was seven months pregnant in March 2003, where it was agreed by her head of department, Dr Colin White, and the general manager in medicine, Val Baron, that they would be seen to support her while actually trying to end her employment.

Spurious complaints about Dr Michalak bullying senior house officers began to surface. Eleven junior doctors were interviewed, eight allegedly recording complaints.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The trust's medical director, Dr David Dawson, whom the tribunal described as a "self-acknowledged liar", launched an investigation and on the advice of another doctor, the decision was taken to suspend her in January 2006.

A doctor appointed to independently investigate the complaints warned that the claims of bullying would be hard to prove after interviewing several junior doctors and finding that just one allegation had been lodged and later revoked.

But the suspension dragged on for two-and-a-half years while further "evidence" was gathered before Dr Michalak's eventual dismissal in July 2008.

The tribunal panel ruled: "Dr Dawson manipulated and engineered the situation leading to the claimant's exclusion. He ignored the earlier indications that the complaints against Dr Michalak were unprovable and simply widened the inquiry so that everybody who had any dealings with Dr Michalak would be interviewed to see what other matters could be identified that could be used against her."

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The scoring for performance-related pay awards were also falsified. Dr Michalak applied but her claim was dismissed by Dr Dawson whom the tribunal ruled "was determined" she "was not going to receive an award and... manipulated matters to ensure that was the case".

The trust's director of human resources, Dianne Nicholls, was also slammed for signing a false witness statement after Dr Michalak took the trust to the High Court.

After the tribunal's verdict Dr Michalak said: "They destroyed my life, my health and my career. The last seven years have been a living hell. Their dishonesty was staggering. It was frightening and sinister how these people could abuse their positions and harass and bully me.

"I was so stressed I was crying on my way to work. I have been profoundly traumatised by the conduct of fellow doctors."

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The trust's chief operating officer, Angie Watson, apologised unreservedly after the ruling.

"We will ensure that mistakes of the past will not be repeated in the future," she said. "We take the tribunal judgment extremely seriously and are committed to responding positively to it.'"