A former army doctor from Northallerton has been struck off the medical register after being found guilty of misconduct over the death of an Iraqi man.
In 2003 Dr Derek Keilloh was the medical officer in charge of a regiment in Basra. The regiment detained an Iraqi hotel receptionist, Baha Mousa.
Mr Mousa was hooded and beaten by the soldiers and when he died it was found he had 93 separate injuries.
Dr Keilloh was the officer in charge of Mr Mousa's medical care and tried to rescuscitate him.
"This is the appropriate sanction he's been struck off and will have to do something else with the rest of his life."
– Phil Shiner, solicitor for the family of Baha Mousa
He told investigators that he had not seen any injuries other than dried blood around the nose, but the tribunal decided that was dishonest and misleading.
Dr Keilloh always denied he was part of a cover up. His family in North Yorkshire say he had no idea detainees were being treated in this way.
"He was a very very young junior doctor at the time and actually hadn't finished his GP training. I think they should have sent a more senior doctor to be in charge. He was naive - he didn't believe that sort of thing could happen in the British army."
– Judy Nicholls, Derek Keilloh's mother-in-law
"Dr Keilloh is extremely disappointed at the decision of this Fitness to Practise Panel and he will need time to consider the implications and his future course of action. He would like to say how much he appreciated the wealth of support he has received from his family, patients, colleagues and friends. This support has helped him through these very prolonged and difficult hearings and hopefully will continue to support him in the future."
– Dr Jim Rodger, medical adviser at the Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland
A medical tribunal has found a doctor who attended an Iraqi who died in the custody of soldiers from 1st Btn Queen's Lancashire Regiment was dishonest and misleading. Dr Derek Keilloh was a medical officer with the regiment at the time of Baha Moussa's death in 2003.
by Rob Smith
Dr Derek Keilloh Credit: Press Association
A former army medic is struck off the medical register. Dr Derek Keilloh was "dishonest" over an Iraqi's detainee's death.
Dr Keilloh said he saw no injuries on Baha Mousa, who died in the custody of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment in 2003. Mr Mousa had 93 wounds.
Baha Mousa died at the hands of soldiers from the Queen's Lancashire Regiment Credit: Press Association
A medical tribunal is now deciding whether Dr Keilloh's medical registration should be "erased" immediately or in 28 days.
The former army medic claimed he hadn't tried to cover-up what happened to Mr Mousa. The panel decided he was guilty of serious misconduct.
The tribunal says Dr Keilloh's "erasure" from the medical register is the only way "proper standards" and "trust" in doctors may be ensured.Dr Keilloh's misconduct would be "fundamentally incompatible" with "registration" as a medical practitioner, according to the ruling.
Niall Dickson, chief executive of the General Medical Council, said:
"We support the MPTS' decision to remove Dr Keilloh's name from the medical register.
We recognise that this has been a particularly challenging case with difficult and unusual circumstances but patients and the public must be confident that the doctor who treats them is competent and trustworthy."
– Niall Dickson, chief executive of the General Medical Council
Dr Jim Rodger, medical adviser at the Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland, said:
"Dr Keilloh is extremely disappointed at the decision of this Fitness to Practise Panel and he will need time to consider the implications of this erasure and his future course of action.
He would like to say how much he appreciated the wealth of support he has received from his family, patients, colleagues and friends.
This support has helped him through these very prolonged and difficult hearings and hopefully will continue to support him in the future."
Dr Derek Keilloh Credit: Dave Thompson/PA Wire/Press Association Images
A former Army doctor found guilty of misconduct by medical watchdogs over the death of Iraqi detainee Baha Mousa was struck off the register today.
Dr Derek Keilloh, 38, a family doctor in Northallerton, looked down and blinked slowly as the decision was delivered as the 47-day hearing finished.
He supervised a failed resuscitation attempt to save the life of Mr Mousa, who had been hooded, handcuffed and severely beaten by soldiers after his arrest as a suspected insurgent in war-torn Basra in September 2003.
Dr Keilloh, then a captain and regimental medical officer of the 1st Battalion, Queen's Lancashire Regiment (1QLR), claimed later that he saw only dried blood around the nose of Mr Mousa, 26, while giving mouth-to-mouth and CPR..
Former Army doctor Derek Keilloh was today struck off the medical register by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service after his misconduct over the death of Iraqi detainee Baha Mousa in 2003.
