85-year-old doctor who lied over age and killed woman patient faces jail
A HOSPITAL doctor in his 80s who repeatedly lied about his age to keep working has admitted killing a mother of three by bungling a routine biopsy that left her "screaming in pain".
Dr Isyaka Mamman, now thought to be 85, had served a one-year suspension in 2004 from a General Medical Council’s fitness to practise tribunal for lying about how old he was to his NHS employers.
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His contract was terminated by the now defunct Pennine Acute Hospitals Trust – but they re-employed him in December 2006 in his former role as a speciality doctor in haematology, Manchester Crown Court was told.
Yet in September 2018, Shahida Parveen, 48, died at the Royal Oldham Hospital after Dr Mamman botched a chest bone-marrow biopsy.
He has admitted gross negligence manslaughter and Judge Mrs Justice Yip told him he faces jail when sentenced by the court today.
The judge also said the decision by the trust – now part of the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust – to give him his job back was “astonishing and extremely troubling”.
She added: “Mrs Parveen was failed by both the trust and the doctor. There can be no doubt about that.”
Prosecutor Andrew Thomas QC told the court Mrs Parveen died after what “should have been a routine procedure”. She was with her husband Khizar Mahmood for the biopsy and gave her consent for the sample to be taken from her hip bone.
Mr Thomas said: “Having failed in this approach, Dr Mamman decided to take a sample from the sternum. This is considered rare and dangerous as the heart directly underlies the sternum.
“The decision was taken without discussion with the patient or any colleague and without clinical support.”
Dr Mamman ignored protests from the couple and also used the wrong needle. Mr Thomas said: “The procedure was incompetently performed. He inserted the needle too low on her chest and missed the sternum. It caused a penetrating injury which resulted in internal bleeding.”
The court heard she died from compression of the heart by a build-up of blood. Yet no alarm was raised by Dr Mamman.
A nurse said Mr Mahmood ran out shouting: “He killed her. I told him to stop three times but he did not listen.” Another medic said Mr Mahmood yelled: “My wife was screaming in pain. I begged him to stop but he said, ‘Don’t worry’. There was blood everywhere.”
Mr Thomas said there were previous complaints about the doctor’s competence and he left the Medway Trust in Kent due to “poor performance”.
It was also said the doctor’s age was “a matter of controversy” as he has no birth certificate from rural Nigeria. In the 1950s and 1960s, he claimed a birth date of September 16, 1936. He later changed it to 1941, then 1947.
Mr Mahmood said in a victim impact statement his “life was over” after the death of his wife of 31 years.
Michael Hayton QC, defending Dr Mamman, said: “He has been profoundly affected by the loss of life caused by his actions.”
