Specialist is banned for limb mix-up

A LIMB specialist has been banned from treating patients after a mix-up with a pensioner's prosthetic leg left him with two left feet.

Malcolm Griffiths fitted a left foot to a right amputee from West Lothian and failed to notice for eight months despite two check-ups between November 2006 and June 2007.

A disciplinary hearing of the Health Professions Council was told Mr Griffiths was prepared to admit all 16 charges against him, including the allegations surrounding patient Patrick Morrison's care.

The charges related to the treatment of 11 patients over a three-year period during Mr Griffiths' time at Edinburgh's Astley Ainslie Hospital.

The regulatory body's Conduct and Competence Committee, sitting in Edinburgh yesterday agreed to Mr Griffiths' own request to have his name removed from the professional register.

Issuing the decision, committee chairman Colin Allies said: "The panel is satisfied that it is appropriate and proportionate to make the consent order as requested."

Mr Griffiths, who was not present at the hearing, was sacked by NHS Lothian in 2008.

Mr Allies said: "He has admitted the charges against him – the panel has agreed the issue on the basis that the registrant has had the benefit of legal advice and it is his choice to be removed from the register."

He added that the removal ensured protection of the public as Mr Griffiths would not be able to practise.

The panel also stressed that if Mr Griffiths decided to reapply to practice as a prosthetist in the future, he would be treated as if he had previously been struck off from the register.

Mr Griffiths had been employed as a prosthetist at the Smart Centre at the Astley Ainslie Hospital.

He was charged with a series of allegations which took place between 2005 and 2008 ranging from persistently losing work to taking excessively lengths of time to complete jobs.

Griffiths was sacked by NHS Lothian after the false leg mix-up and faced accusations about his care of 11 separate patients.

It was Griffiths' patient, Patrick Morrison, 76, of Bathgate who received two left feet after a routine operation. Mr Morrison's wife only discovered the mistake when she took off his protective sock.