Whitewash claim as radiation overdose doctor is allowed to continue to practise

Published on Friday 30 October 2009 21:21

A CLINICAL scientist found to have shown a lack of competence in the treatment of teenage cancer patient Lisa Norris was yesterday judged fit to continue to practise.

Charges against Dr Stuart McNee – who worked at the Beatson Oncology Centre in Glasgow – were upheld by the Health Professions Council (HPC), but he is to keep his job.

Lisa Norris, 16, was given 19 radiation overdoses during treatment for a brain tumour. She died from the tumour at her home in Ayrshire.

Yesterday the HPC upheld five charges against Dr McNee, including failure to ensure that standard operating procedures were followed.

Despite their finding, the three-strong panel ruled that his fitness to practise was not impaired and that such an allegation was "not well founded".

They said his actions had stemmed to a significant degree from staff shortages and a lack of support from management, and pointed to Dr McNee's otherwise "unblemished career" over more than 30 years.

But Lisa's parents, Ken and Elizabeth Norris, claimed a "whitewash" had taken place after the conduct and competence hearing in Edinburgh.

Mr and Mrs Norris, who attended the hearing, said afterwards they were disappointed.

Mr Norris also criticised Dr McNee's absence from yesterday's hearing.

He said: "I expected him to be here, so we'd actually come face-to-face and see who he was.

"Nobody's taken responsibility for overdosing Lisa and as far as I'm concerned they have just whitewashed it.

"It doesn't matter if he had a good, impeccable record. What he did he shouldn't have done and he should have been made to answer for it."

Miss Norris was given overdoses during radiation therapy for a brain tumour at the Beatson. The teenager died at her home in Girvan, Ayrshire, in October 2006 with her family by her side.

The HPC panel upheld five elements of a charge against Dr McNee, relating to the period between 15 December, 2005, and 1 February, 2006.

It included a finding that he failed to ensure robust systems were in place to support trainee practitioners and that he failed to make sure the proposed treatment plan was independently verified.

Panel chairman Colin Allies said Dr McNee's actions fell at the "lower end of the scale" of lack of competence. They were "not deliberate, wilful or reckless" and did not amount to misconduct, he said.

He said earlier evidence heard by the panel suggested staff at the unit at the time were operating under "extreme pressure" as a result of a lack of experienced staff and the workload they faced.

They heard the introduction of a new computer system had brought additional pressures.

Alistair Forsyth, representing Dr McNee, argued his client had "simply reached a breaking point where too much was being expected of him".

He said he had to deal with 80 to 100 cases at any one time and was the only senior radiotherapy physicist involved in treatment planning at one of the busiest centres of its kind in the UK.