An NHS doctor falsely diagnosed a girl with cancer to scare her mother into paying for private treatment, a tribunal heard.
Dr Mina Chowdhury allegedly told the mother that her daughter had a stomach tumour that could spread if left untreated, before refusing to refer her for NHS treatment.
The paediatrician at NHS Forth Valley was a managing director of a private healthcare firm at the time and it is alleged his actions were 'financially motivated and dishonest'.
The claims were made during a Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) hearing last Wednesday where Dr Chowdhury was accused of providing false information and creating 'an unwarranted sense of concern' to try and make money.
At the time Dr Chowdhury was working in a private capacity at his clinic in Glasgow.
However, when the mother took her daughter to A&E medics could find no signs of the cancer diagnosed by Dr Chowdhury.
Parent A said that she was made to feel as though the NHS was unable to help with her daughter, who was suffering with dizziness, blindness, passing out and chronic weight loss, and was relieved when Dr Chowdhury made the diagnosis.
Dr Chowdhury denies telling Parent A that her daughter had cancer but claims he said it was a low possibility.
The doctor also denies using the expression 'we're going to talk about the C word' and claims that he did give Parent A the option to go to the NHS.
However, Parent A claims that before the doctor diagnosed her child with cancer, she thought he had asked the girl to leave the room so that they could discuss the cost of medical tests.
She claimed Dr Chowdhury advised her that her child would need blood tests costing £3,245 and would need to travel to London for an MRI scan, without discussing referral to the NHS.
Parent A alleged that after she took her daughter to A&E because she had collapsed, she became suspicious.
Earlier in the hearing, held in Manchester, another parent alleged Dr Chowdhury had arranged 'inappropriate genetic testing' on a young boy to exclude a diagnosis of cystic fibrosis.
He is alleged to have said the boy, named as patient B, needed an echocardiogram to probe a heart murmur, which he said could only be carried out in London.
Patient B's parent alleged he had created an 'unwarranted sense of concern without sufficient clinical justification' by suggesting over a Skype consultation that her child's high level of B cells – a type of white blood cell – could be due to cancer and later suggesting private treatment that was 'disproportionately expensive' without offering a referral for NHS treatment.
Dr Chowdhury denies all allegations of misconduct, which are alleged to have taken place between March and August 2017.
The tribunal continues.
