A trainee GP has been suspended after he forced a patient to cry over her late husband so he could film it and show his bosses.
Dr Christopher Ogbonna was trying to prove he had ’empathy’ when he pushed the woman to tears not long after she’d lost her spouse to cancer.
A disciplinary hearing heard how the video was part of his training and he’d hoped it would show a sympathetic bedside manner.
Dr Ogbonna then phoned the woman back to try to get her to re-record parts of the consultation which he wanted to improve on.
The trainee has now been suspended for three months after a panel ruled he was guilty of misconduct for ‘prioritising his needs’ over the grieving patient’s welfare.
Dr Christopher Ogbonna was working as a GP at Yaxley Group Practice, Cambs. in 2022 when he made a woman cry over her dead husband (stock)
The Medical Practitioners Tribunal heard how Dr Ogbonna had been working as a trainee GP at Yaxley Group Practice, Peterborough, Cambs. in June 2022 when the woman arranged an an appointment.
He got in touch with her to ask if he could assess her as it would be helpful for his training.
The tribunal heard how Dr Ogbonna told her what questions he planned to ask her and what she should answer before they practised the conversation.
He knew she was was vulnerable medically because of her husband dying but continued to asked her to cry when talking about his death.
The GP also asked her to pretend to take her clothes off for an examination, while actually keeping her clothes on.
Dr Ogbonna then phoned her back and asked they re-record the consultation because of the omissions and errors he’d made during the recording.
The panel heard that when she refused, he started crying.
As part of the the GP training, the trainee had to submit twelve recordings of individual patients in different categories.
At the time, Dr Ogbonna had made none.
He told the panel in a written statement that he wanted to repeat the consultation with the woman as he wanted to perfect it.
The GP explained that he knew he’d been unsuccessful in the recorded consultation assessments for a second time and he’d placed pressure on himself to get it right.
The patient made a complaint about his conduct, after which he referred himself to the General Medical Council in March 2023.
On behalf of Dr Ogbonna, Mr Andrew Colman said that the doctor ‘was deeply affected by the stress of potentially failing to qualify as a GP’ after ‘years of dedicated service’.
Mr Colman argued that the pressure made the GP act out of character.
The tribunal said that while there was no evidence of Dr Ogbonna asking or coaching the patient to give untruthful answers, he had however ‘been persistent in his conduct and had asked [the patient] to assist him in these recordings multiple times’.
It said: ‘[The patient] was vulnerable, not just due to the presentation of her health concern but also due to having suffered bereavements in her family – she had lost her husband […] prior to this meeting with Dr Ogbonna and stated that she was still “quite raw” from that.
‘Dr Ogbonna had become aware of [the patient] having lost her husband to cancer, however he asked her to go over that fact multiple times in the recordings made and had asked her to cry, to enable him to demonstrate empathy on his part.
‘Dr Ogbonna had prioritised his needs over [the patient]’s welfare. The Tribunal also noted [the patient]’s evidence that she was made to feel uncomfortable, and that Dr Ogbonna had placed undue pressure on her.’
Dr Ogbonna had been working as a GP at Nene Valley and Hodgson Medical Practice, Peterborough since April 2023.
