NI doctor who falsified clinical trials struck off medical register

A Co Down doctor convicted of falsifying clinical trials for his own financial gain has been struck off as a GP following a misconduct hearing.

Hugh Patrick Mary McGoldrick faced a Medical Practitioners Tribunal (MPT) hearing in Manchester after he pleaded guilty last year to two counts of submitting false information on patients during a sleep disorder research trial between 2007 and 2008.

The 59-year-old, from Crossgar Road East, Downpatrick in Co Down was initially sentenced to nine months in jail for what a judge described as his “unscrupulous’’ behaviour in the first criminal prosecution of its kind in the UK.

Sentencing him last June to nine months in jail and ordering him to pay a fine of £10,000, Judge Piers Grant told McGoldrick he had “shown no remorse’’ for his actions, adding: “Your only sorrow concerns the fact that you were caught.

“I take the view these are serious offences and the message needs to be sent out loud and clear that people not adhering to the protocol will suffer the consequences.

“People like you must be deterred. Your breach of trust and your response to that breach of trust requires a custodial sentence.’’

But the Court of Appeal decided to suspend the nine-month jail term saying the case had been hanging over McGoldrick for some time.

At his hearing, the MPT had determined that because of his guilty pleas and conviction, McGoldrick’s “fitness to practice was impaired’’.

A lawyer for the General Medical Council told the MPT hearing that the appropriate sanction to be imposed was “erasure’’ - or strike off - from the register.

The lawyer added: “Dr McGoldrick’s criminal conviction has undermined public confidence in the profession and any reasonable member of the public could be of the view that suspension would not address the seriousness of this case.

“Dr McGoldrick continued to seek to undermine his own guilty plea which demonstrates a continued lack of insight and remorse.

“His dishonesty related to clinical trials and was at the highest end of the scale.’’

The MPT hearing said it coming to its determination it took into account McGoldrick’s previous good character, his apology to the court and there had been no further offending.

But it also took considered the aggravating factor: the seriousness of his dishonesty which was “repetitive and pre-meditated’’; the potential consequences for public confidence in clinical research; his assertion that he was acting in the best interest of patients which the Tribunal considered reflected a “lack of insight into the seriousness of what he has done’’.

The MPT said it had ruled out possible sanctions such as “no action’’, imposing conditions on his registration, or even suspension from the registration as the offences were so serious.

In its ruling, the MPT stated: “Dishonesty is difficult to remediate and given Dr McGoldrick’s limited insight into the seriousness of his behaviour the Tribunal considers there is limited potential for remediation.

“The Tribunal further considers that Dr McGoldrick has breached fundamental principles of Good Medical Practice.

“When first challenged about his actions he lied and he put patients at risk of potential harm albeit the Tribunal has no information to suggest that any patients suffered actual harm.

“For these reasons the Tribunal considers for these reasons that a period of suspension would be insufficient.

“In this case, Dr McGoldrick’s dishonesty was persistent - he repeatedly made telephone calls to the trial misrepresenting that he was the patient and providing made-up information on each occasion.

“He attempted to cover it up when he was first challenged by Sanofi-Aventis (the drug company involved in the clinical trial), only admitting his actions when they persisted in their challenge.

“Tribunal recognises that Dr McGoldrick has had a hitherto unblemished record and that he continued to practise without complaint for some years whilst these matters were investigated.

“However, balancing all the factors in this case, the Tribunal has determined that Dr McGoldrick’s conviction is fundamentally incompatible with his continuing to practise medicine.

“If he were allowed to continue, the public confidence in clinical research and in the profession as a whole would be fundamentally damaged.

“Accordingly, the Tribunal has determined to direct that Dr McGoldrick’s name be erased from the Medical Register.”

McGoldrick has said he will appeal the ruling.

A statement issued by his lawyers on Tuesday evening said: "Dr McGoldrick does not accept the Tribunal findings and has every intention of contesting them.

"He rejects completely any allegation that he was ever dishonest."