Doctor’s biopsy bungle

Medic who forgot to send patient samples for testing is struck off

A DOCTOR who failed to send away patient biopsy samples for testing has been struck off.

Dr Harry Dye came across a bundle of samples he had forgotten to send off for testing while packing up his office for a move to Australia in March 2016.

The medic, who was practising in Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, was found to be unfit to practise after a Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) hearing in 2017 and was banned for 18 months.

However, a tribunal has now removed his name from the register completely after finding him to be ‘fundamentally incompatible’ with practising again.

Dr Dye discovered samples inside his office that he had taken from patients over the six months leading up to March 2016. He then put them into a box for processing at the practice and failed to inform anyone of the circumstances. In total, 13 patients were affected.

After his 2017 hearing, Dr Dye moved to Australia and due to his suspension was unable to register with the medical regulator there.

At a 2019 review tribunal, the panel decided to suspend his registration for a further 12 months.

He has now been erased completely from the medical practitioners’ register.

MPTS tribunal chairman Fiona Barnett said: ‘His failure to send numerous samples to the laboratory could have had serious consequences for a number of patients.

‘However, the tribunal has received no evidence from Dr Dye to indicate that he acknowledges this or to persuade the tribunal that it will not happen again. Dr Dye’s failure to take any steps to remediate his misconduct, having been given several opportunities to do so, is behaviour which is now fundamentally incompatible with continued registration as a doctor.

‘In all the circumstances, the tribunal therefore concluded that any sanction less than erasure would be insufficient to protect the public and uphold public confidence in the medical profession.

‘It decided that it was necessary and proportionate to direct that Dr Dye’s name be erased from the medical register.’