Doctor who said Hammersmith would be better without Jews not racist, GMC tribunal finds
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A doctor who said Hammersmith would be better if it was “Jew free” was found not to be racist but “comfortable with discriminatory language” by the General Medical Council’s independent tribunal.
Dr Dimitrios Psaroudakis, a consultant gynaecologist, has been suspended by the doctors’ regulator for three months after making dozens of racially offensive, sexist and derogatory remarks about colleagues and patients.
The Harley Street fertility consultant was reprimanded for messages he sent to a colleague, known as Ms A, during his time at the Evewell fertility clinic between 2020 and 2022.
An independent panel heard how Dr Psaroudakis made repeated references to Jewish colleagues as “yews” - because of his accent - and used this as “shorthand” when he messaged Ms A.
He also called his Jewish colleagues “big nose”, “leprechaun”, “alky” and “s*** for brains”, while messaging on the company’s IT systems before his resignation in September 2022.
He suggested Hammersmith, London, would be improved if it were “yew free”, and regularly referred to the clinic as “the temple”.
‘Racially offensive’ term
The Medical Practitioners’ Tribunal Service (MPTS), which runs independent hearings for the GMC, concluded that the term “yew” was “racially offensive”.
“It was Dr Psaroudakis’ common practice to pick out and use what could be considered offensive or derogatory characteristics about people whom he did not like,” the panel concluded.
“Rather than use someone’s name or work title, Dr Psaroudakis preferred to make unpleasant and unacceptable references to protected characteristics of colleagues.
“The tribunal makes no finding that Dr Psaroudakis is a racist but is satisfied that he is someone who is quite comfortable with using discriminatory language.”
Dr Psaroudakis’s suspension began in mid-January, 16 months after he had resigned from his role because of his comments, and he will be able to practise again from April.
Bob Blackman, a Conservative MP, told The Telegraph it “beggars belief” that he was only suspended for three months and called for the GMC to strike him off the register altogether.
Zero tolerance approach
“It’s absolutely absurd, he should be struck off”, he said. “We should have zero tolerance to antisemitism and people that display attitudes like that bring the medical profession into complete disrepute.
“Three months, is he going to change his view? I don’t think so. They seem to be naive beyond belief.”
Dr Psaroudakis was also found to have made “sexist”, “sexually explicit” and “morally reprehensible” comments.
In particular, the tribunal heard that the consultant had joked about the death of a patient’s husband, who had died the previous week by suicide, saying “he smelled her shoes”.
Mr Thomas Moran, the GMC counsel, said Dr Psaroudakis’s explanation for the comments had been “demonstrably false” and that they were “so repulsive” that he could not face telling the truth.
The GMC said it sought a suspension, which it deemed necessary to maintain public confidence. The MPTS said it couldn’t comment on individual tribunals, but pointed to its conclusions.
Regarding the length of the suspension, it deemed three months “reflected the level of seriousness of the misconduct and would send out a message to the doctor, the profession and to the public that such conduct is unacceptable”.
Regret and remorse
It said Dr Psaroudakis had “expressed genuine regret, remorse and apology, and had not sought to blame others” and he had engaged in courses “aimed at remediation and developing insight”.
It comes after The Telegraph revealed that Dr Wahid Shaida, who ran the Islamist extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir until its ban last month, was still able to practise as a GP despite calling the October 7 massacre by Hamas a “very welcome punch on the nose” to Israel, and seeking to justify the attempted murder of Sir Salman Rushdie on social media.
The NHS was forced to leapfrog the GMC’s process and remove Dr Shaida from its list of approved doctors, but he is still accredited by the regulator and can practise privately.
Meanwhile, Dr Martin Whyte, a paediatrician, who was sacked from his role at the British Medical Association for posting “zeig heil hahaha gas the Jews”, is also still licenced to practise by the GMC with “no restrictions”.
Dr Psaroudakis did not respond to a request for comment.
