D’Mello update – he refuses to attend hearing
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- Published: Tuesday, 09 August 2016 11:08
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The Daily Mail reports that Desmond D'Mello, who faces more than 50 allegations of misconduct for poor hygiene, has refused to attend his Fitness to Practise hearing or be legally represented. It will however continue in his absence. His nurse, Caroline Surgey, was reprented by her lawyer who admitted all charges on her behalf.
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Desmond D'Mello, who faces more than 50 allegations of misconduct for poor hygiene after he was secretly filmed by a whistleblower, has refused to attend his FtP hearing or to be legally represented there. It will now go ahead in his absence.
David Bradly, representing the GDC, said: 'The council's submission is that he has chosen not to attend the proceedings at all. While of course he may be disadvantaged by not being present, the difficulty for him is to be balanced against the the public interest in proceeding.' He pointed out there would be not appropriate for the committee to adjourn the proceedings as it is unlikely D'Mello would attended a re-listed hearing.
Mr Bradly said: 'In the public interest the council applies to your committee to proceed with this hearing in Mr D'Mello's absence.' He showed the committee a letter from the solicitors Branbers, which had previously represented D'Mello from November 10, 2015. In it they said: 'For the reasons set out, we confirm our client does not intend to participate in the ongoing fitness to practice proceedings.' The hearing was also shown a letter from D'Mello dated December 8, 2015, in which he said: 'I do not wish to engage in this process.'
Earlier this year in at a preliminary hearing D'Mello wrote to the GDC and said: 'I would like to confirm that I will not be attending or be represented at the hearing on 6th May 2016 as I repeat I have applied for voluntary erasure from the GDC register and have no intention of ever practising dentistry again.'
Also facing allegations along side him is his dental assistant Caroline Surgey who faced four charges, with 23 sub-charges, including failing to change her gloves after blowing her nose into a tissue and failing to decontaminate equipment. At today's hearing Malcolm Fortune, representing Surgey, said: 'She faces four charges and all of these are admitted by me on her behalf.'
In a comment beneath the Daily Mail article ‘Nigel’ who describes himself as ‘a patient since 1987 and later becoming a friend and accountant for the accused dentist’ pointed out that: "Out of the 22,000 former patients who were recalled for tests, no-one was HIV+ or had Hepatitis B, and there were only five who were discovered to have Hepatitis C, which is actually 435 fewer than would be found in a random sampling of the entire population - so those five could quite easily have contracted the disease elsewhere." He added “As the dentist no longer practices (sic) and has no intention of ever practicing (sic) again in the future, why should he attend a disciplinary hearing? He is not disputing the allegations, but merely attempting to reduce additional costs that are completely unnecessary.”
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