Great Ormond Street surgeon is suspended over allegations of child abuse

[Alison J Stevens]

Great Ormond Street surgeon is suspended over allegations of child abuse

• Professor denies any impropriety or misconduct
• Allegations involved children in Kenya

Prof Bonhoeffer was due to appear before a fitness to practise panel at the GMC but the case was suspended after his lawyers applied for a judicial review

A surgeon at Great Ormond Street Hospital is being investigated over claims of child abuse.

The allegations against Philipp Bonhoeffer, a world-renowned cardiologist, relate to his time working for a charity in Africa.

He was suspended two years ago but the case has only just come to light. The hospital has set up a helpline for parents of children he has treated.

Four families had contacted the helpline by last night.

The 49-year-old, who was born in Germany, began working at the famous London children’s hospital in 2001 and has treated hundreds of young patients as head of cardiology.

He had been due before a General Medical Council tribunal in October but the case was halted after his lawyers submitted that there was not enough evidence.

The objection was heart at the High Court today, where lawyers for the surgeon asked for the decision to allow hearsay evidence to be used in the GMC proceedings to be overturned.

Kieran Coonan QC, for the Professor, claimed it was ‘irrational and unalwful’ and would violate his right to a fair hearing. He described the surgeon as ‘one of the world’s leading paediatric cardiologists’.

Mr Coonan said: ‘The allegations are of sexual misconduct and they are strongly denied.

‘Clearly the case is of the greatest importance and seriousness for all concerned, and may have significant consequences for the prosecution of future cases before the GMC.’

The QC told the court the allegations stemmed from Prof Bonhoeffer’s work as a doctor in Kenya ‘and his association over a considerable period of time with a number of young males who are nationals of Kenya – some not so young now’.

He said the surgeon had ‘funded their education, their accommodation and living expenses’.

The court was told the evidence in the majority of charges was from a ‘single source’ referred to as Witness A, who had also been funded by the expert.

Mr Coonan said the GMC’s argument that it did not want to bring the witness to London to give evidence because of the risk of harm was seriously flawed.

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Although details of the case have not been made public, it is believed to concern a man who alleges he was sexually abused by the doctor when he was a child.

Dr Bonhoeffer is also alleged to have tried to bribe the man to make him retract his accusations.

The Metropolitan Police said the allegations involved children in Kenya and were first received in September 2008.

A spokesman said: ‘An investigation commenced and the alleged victims were interviewed in Kenya.

‘The investigation concluded in April 2009. No arrest was made as the alleged offences were not prosecutable in the UK for legal reasons.

‘Intelligence databases were updated at that time and information shared with relevant agencies as necessary to discharge our duty to safeguard children.’

The professor worked as head of cardiology at Great Ormond Street Hospital until 2009

The doctor, who lives in Camden, North London, strongly denies all charges made against him.

He is not married and has spent much of his career working for Chain of Hope, a British charity that arranges for poor children with heart problems to be brought to England for treatment.

Dr Bonhoeffer grew up in Germany but trained in medicine in Milan and later moved to France.

In 2000, he performed the world’s first human trans-catheter heart valve implantation – an operation to repair a patient’s heart without the need for risky open-heart surgery. He moved to Great Ormond Street the following year and worked there until he was suspended in April 2009.

His great uncle, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, was a leading Protestant theologian whose resistance activities against the Nazis saw him executed days before the end of the Second World War.

It is not known exactly how many children Dr Bonhoeffer treated during the eight years he worked at Great Ormond Street but 200,000 patients visit the hospital every year.

A spokesman for Great Ormond Street said: ‘We have absolutely no reason to believe anyone in this hospital has been put at risk.

MISSIONS TO HELP AFRICAN YOUNGSTERS

Philipp Bonhoeffer has made numerous mercy missions to treat children in Kenya under the auspices of Chain of Hope.

The charity arranges for children with serious medical problems to be brought to the UK for surgery and sends volunteer surgical teams to developing countries.

Founded by the heart transplant pioneer Sir Magdi Yacoub in 1995, Chain of Hope targets children suffering from  life-threatening cardiac diseases and offers them corrective surgery and treatment.

During their visits the volunteers try to encourage the development of cardiac services for local populations.

The charity has also sent missions to Mozambique, Egypt, Jamaica and Ethiopia. It says that as many as 15million children die or remain severely ill every year through potentially treatable or preventable heart diseases.

‘However, any families seen by this doctor who are concerned can call 020 7762 6200.’  In a statement issued by his lawyers, Dr Bonhoeffer said: ‘I strongly deny any impropriety or misconduct.

‘These allegations are extremely distressing as throughout my career I have been committed to helping my patients. I am determined to fight these allegations.’

Dr Bonhoeffer once said he had made so many missions to Kenya that he had acquired a large ‘family’ of children there, one of whom was named ‘Doctor Philipp’ after him.

He said the children’s parents told him that he had given them life, so they were, in effect, his sons and daughters.

‘I tell them that I am honoured, so long as they remain at home,’ Dr Bonhoeffer said in 2005. ‘I keep in contact and pay for their education.’

In an interview, Dr Bonhoeffer said his long-term aim at the charity was to develop more affordable techniques that can be used all over the world and to teach local doctors how to do the operations themselves.

‘If we educate, we leave something in those countries,’ he once said. ‘At Chain of Hope, we have difficult decisions to make about who to treat, to make the best of our resources.

‘If we had more resources, we could treat more, teach more.’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1374304/Former-Great-Ormond...

[Alison J Stevens]

Let us see if he has any involvement with regards to a child protection investigation with reference to his own children,this headline doesn’t state whether he has a any children?
WE were advising on a case where a Psychiatric nurse was diagnosed with MSBP, by her GP,and the childrens school teachers also suggested the same.
Although she didn’t have her children removed, they were subjected to a child protection plan.
The police were involved,and contacted the Hospital trust,where this Mother worked as a Nurse.
The HR department and the Police arranged to have a meeting without the Mother knowing, she was suspended forthwith, and due to her being employed as a bank nurse, she was entitled to no pay.
Her enhanced CRB disclosure is now tarred, with an allegation of personality disorder disclosed the last thing i heard from her was that she was trying to get the Hospital trust to do a risk assessment on her.
I urged her to obtain all HR files and all work files under the Data protection act, and to get all other agency files,and use the Hospital trusts complaints procedure, about not notifying her about the Police come work meeting.