NHS doctor suspended over alleged antisemitic social media posts | Antisemitism
An NHS doctor accused of anti-semitism has been suspended for 15 months pending an investigation, the UK’s Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) has ruled.
The General Medical Council (GMC) is investigating Dr Rahmeh Aladwan following posts and comments made on various social media platforms, following several complaints, including from the Jewish Medical Association UK and the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism.
GMC lawyer Emma Gilsenan told the MPTS hearing that Aladwan’s posts included content which “allegedly justifies terrorism, denies sexual violence, includes anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, misuses the Holocaust and Nazi imagery and expresses support for banned groups and terrorist acts”.
She added that Aladwan, a British Palestinian trauma and orthopedics trainee, allegedly called London’s Royal Free Hospital a “cesshole of Jewish supremacy”, criticized her NHS colleagues for raising concerns about her and expressed explicit support for banned organizations such as Hamas and Palestine Action.
Gilsenan argued that it was “unconscionable to consider that Dr Aladwan should be allowed to continue in practice”.
Aladwan’s lawyer, Kevin Saunders, argued that the messages “fell within the category of legitimate political speech and debate” and that she denied making racist or hateful remarks. He added that there was “no information to suggest that Dr Aladwan poses a real and immediate risk to patient safety”.
In September, the MPTS decided it would not impose interim conditions on Aladwan’s registration, finding that the complaints filed against her were not “sufficient to establish that there may be a real risk to patients.”
However, the presiding judge, Lee Davies, ruled on Wednesday that her alleged conduct “could have an impact on patients’ confidence in her and the profession and that patients could be discouraged from seeking treatment from her”.
It said “additional information” had been made available since September that “may indicate an escalation in the tone and nature of Dr. Aladwan’s activities and messages, which may be considered extreme, offensive and anti-Semitic.”
Davies said: “The court considers that the allegations, if proven, are serious and appear to arise from the persistent and prolonged publication of potentially egregious material which was widely disseminated by Dr Aladwan, which gave rise to a number of individual complaints made to the GMC.
“While the court is mindful of Dr. Aladwan’s free speech rights, it noted a number of comments that allegedly support and celebrate terrorist acts and organizations and promote violent actions and offensive Jewish tropes. »
He added that “numerous complaints” had been received “from individuals and various organizations.”
The 15-month provisional suspension of Aladwan, 31, came into effect on Wednesday and will be reviewed within six months.
The GMC and MPTS assess the behavior of doctors and decide whether sanctions, including removal from the medical register, are necessary. MPTS interim orders tribunals decide whether a doctor’s practice should be restricted while a GMC investigation is underway, but fail to reach their own conclusions.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting is seeking to rethink how medical regulators investigate cases of antisemitism after saying “the current system of medical regulation completely fails to protect Jewish patients and NHS staff”.
