Doctor banned for a year after CV lies are uncovered

Oxford-educated David Clark falsely claimed he was the author of scientific publications which ha

Dr Clark’s dishonest attempt to get a permanent post at Crosshouse Hospital, Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, backfired spectacularly.d been written by a friend.

He failed to make the shortlist for the  position and, when bosses uncovered his deception, resigned from his temporary position with Ayrshire and Arran NHS trust.

In an attempt to make his application more “impressive”, he embellished his CV by claiming to have been a contributing author to six published scientific papers.

Dr Clark, a consultant anaesthetist, applied for the £100,000-a-year job in May 2009.

But a colleague decided to check the claims and uncovered the discrepancy.

Dr Clark admitted that he had been “very stupid” to  include the articles on his CV but claimed this had been a mistake.

The medic argued he had attached the “wrong” document – which he called his ‘scientific’ CV – as opposed to his general medical CV.

But a hearing of the General Medical Council (GMC) in 2011 found that he had been deliberately dishonest.

 

Rogue

The GMC said at the time: “The Panel is satisfied that Dr Clark’s deliberate inclusion of the six rogue publications in his scientific CV as part of his application for the consultant post would be judged to be dishonest by the ordinary standards of reasonable and honest people.

“The Panel is also satisfied that Dr Clark knew that what he was doing by those standards was dishonest.

“Indeed, Dr Clark accepted during his evidence that if his actions in this regard had been deliberate, and the Panel finds that they were, then it would amount to being dishonest.”

The doctor was also taken to task for trying to mislead the GMC by providing false statements and lying under oath.

 

Stress

He was told: “Your denial of the facts and your dishonesty during the hearing undermine your claim to insight, or that you have addressed and remediated your failings.”

Clark apologised for trying to mislead the GMC and blamed this on the “stress of the hearing and external circumstances”.

The suspension, ordered this week after a hearing in Manchester, means he will not be able to work for a year.

A GMC spokesman said: “The panel determined to suspend Dr Clark’s registration for 12 months.”

The spokesman said Dr Clark had a month to appeal his suspension