Elderley Doctor who killed a patient faces a jail sentence

An elderly doctor who killed a patient during a routine bone marrow biopsy lied about his age to keep his job.

 

Dr Isyaka Mamman, now 85, was told at Manchester Crown Court that he faces a jail sentence after admitting the gross negligence manslaughter of 48-year-old Shahida Parveen at the Royal Oldham Hospital in Greater Manchester in September 2018.

 

At the time of Mrs Parveen's death, Dr Mamman had previously been suspended for lying about his date of birth. Despite his dishonesty, he was re-employed in his former role as a specialist haematology doctor after serving his suspension.

 

Andrew Thomas QC, prosecuting, said Mrs Parveen, a mother of three, died during what "should have been a routine procedure" to take a sample of bone marrow.

 

Dr Mamman had already served a one-year suspension imposed in 2004 by the General Medical Council's fitness to practise tribunal for lying about his age to his employers. His contract was ended by the Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust but in December 2006 he was re-employed by the trust in his former role.

 

The decision to give him his job back was described by Mrs Justice Yip as "astonishing and extremely troubling" as he would have been past the compulsory retirement age at the time. She said: "Mrs Parveen was failed by both the trust and the doctor. There can be no doubt about that."

 

Mr Thomas told the court that Mrs Parveen was with her husband Khizar Mahmood when she went for the biopsy and had given her consent for the bone marrow sample to be taken from her hip bone. Having failed to obtain a sample using this "conventional" approach, Dr Mamman decided to take a sample from the sternum. This approach is extremely rare, although used on occasion, and considered dangerous as the heart lies directly under the sternum.

 

Mr Thomas said Mrs Parveen lost consciousness as soon as the needle was inserted, but Dr Mamman did not raise the alarm. A nurse said Mr Mahmood came running out and shouted: "He killed her. I told him to stop three times but he did not listen. He killed her."

 

Mr Thomas said that the doctor's true age was "a matter of controversy" - Dr Mamman does not have a birth certificate as he was born in rural Nigeria which did not have a birth registration system. He entered a medical college in Ibadan in 1958 and provided a birth date of 16th September 1936. He registered as a doctor with the GMC in July 1965 and gave them the same birth date.

 

However, at some point he claimed a later date of birth of 1941 upon obtaining a Nigerian passport, and this date was provided to employers. In 2001, he claimed an even later birth date of October 1947 for his naturalisation as a British citizen. Mr Thomas said if this date were true, Dr Mamman would have started his medical studies at the age of 10.

 

Employers used to be able to force workers to retire at 65, but this law was scrapped in April 2011, after a campaign by the charity Age UK. Lawyers defending Dr Mamman said his skill as a doctor was "considerably diminished" from the younger man he once was. Michael Hayton QC, defending, said: "He should never have been in a position to carry out this procedure."

 

 

E&K Solicitors

Rusholme