If anything, I cared too much'
01/08/2002

Throughout his five-year "nightmare", Richard Neale has refused to justify his surgical record. But, in a remarkable interview in a medical journal, the disgraced doctor paints himself as the real victim, Chris Lloyd reports.

IN an extraordinary interview with a respected medical journal, Richard Neale, the disgraced Northallerton gynaecologist, says he is more sinned against than sinning, and compares himself to Princess Diana and the Good Samaritan.

He admits only that he may have overstretched himself, although this may be Northallerton's fault for being so small. Practically everything else is everyone else's fault, from the doctor who left a drug in a fridge in Canada to the biased General Medical Council (GMC) and, in particular, to one "vociferous and vindictive" woman.

The interview in the European Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Reproductive Biology, due to be published next week, opens with Neale explaining what happened in Canada in 1980 when one of his patients died.

A woman was having problems at the end of her pregnancy. "She passionately wished to avoid a caesarean," he says. So he injected her with a drug which was unlicensed in Canada but had been brought from Britain by a colleague who had left it in the labour ward fridge.

"I assumed my colleague had obtained the necessary permissions to use an unlicensed drug," says Neale. "This proved to be incorrect."

About 45 minutes after giving birth, the woman died of a clot in her amniotic fluid.

Four years later, when Neale was working in Northallerton, the case came before the Canadian equivalent of the GMC. Neale admitted using an unlicensed drug but could not be present at the hearing because of his job in North Yorkshire.

'The Toronto panel found against me even though I was not present," he says. "The English authorities, including the GMC and the regional health authority, took no action on learning the outcome of the Toronto hearing. They did not even contact me. I believe that the consensus was that the Toronto judgement was particularly harsh."

Neale alleges that the Toronto case was later leaked to the media by someone who "engineered the departure of no less than eight consultants in a single year" from the Friarage.

The leak coincided with the hospital receiving complaints about his performance.

The GMC heard 12 specimen charges arising from these complaints in 2000. It concluded that Neale was guilty of serious professional misconduct and he was struck off.

Neale dismisses the charges. "Eleven patients over 12 years during which I had cared for some 10,300 NHS and at least 1,000 private patients, a rate of the order of 0.1 per cent," he says. "Given the massive media campaign, I believe the figure is low. Do not most busy surgeons have one dissatisfied patient a year? There were no deaths."

His problems arose, he says, because he developed his own surgical technique which he presented to the International Continence Society in Rome in 1993.

"I overstretched myself surgically," he says. "I endeavoured to set up a tertiary urogynaecological unit in a fairly small hospital (Northallerton). Doctors must be aware of their limitations. This may well have been my most significant fault."

He alleges that senior doctors at Northallerton were "inhibited" from supporting him at the GMC, which he accuses of being "a political organisation without the reputation for impartiality of the mainstream judiciary".

At the time, he says, the GMC was fighting for its life in the face of Alan Milburn's reforms. He was unlucky enough to have on the six-man panel hearing his case, two people who were vying to become president of the GMC. "They could not be said to be independent, unbiased, unprejudiced or apolitical," he says.

During his hearing, he says the incumbent GMC president held a press conference. "A number of images were displayed, all of doctors already found guilty: Shipman, Wisheart, Ledward and me! He prejudged the case and considered that I was guilty. That was at the start of my hearing."

He concludes his bitter condemnation of the GMC by saying: "I believe the GMC bowed to public opinion, orchestrated by one vindictive and vociferous woman who phoned them, the newspapers, the Department of Heath and numerous politicians on literally hundreds of occasions. They were unable or unwilling to resist."

He goes on to give advice to other doctors caught in similar situations: "Record everything. Avoid avant garde work unless you are very distinguished, have strong academic backing and unequivocal support from the organisation. Never let complaints go unresolved and ensure the patient is ultimately happy. Be aware of your limitations."

He believes his experience will help him in his new job in Manchester. "I hope I have something to offer as a 'wounded healer'," he says. "I believe I am uniquely equipped to serve the needs of patients while remaining fair to clinicians."

Asked if he has any regrets, he says: "Although I am guilty of not knowing my limitations, I can honestly say that my motivation was good. If anything, I was too involved with my patients' welfare."

Extraordinarily, he moves on to say: "I identify with the story of the Good Samaritan, a modern version of which was exemplified by Princess Diana when she cared for the ragged African boy, his leg torn off by a landmine. A politician had passed by on the other side and a press photographer stayed just long enough to take photographs. A Christian cardiologist has defined this approach as 'to cure sometimes, to relieve often, to comfort always'. I hope this has always underpinned my approach to patient care."

He says the last five years have been "my worst nightmare come true. Nearly everyone of influence was only interested in condemnation, with no concern to rehabilitate a flawed doctor".

He says he misses being a doctor: "It is a sort of bereavement. I miss caring for patients, the operating theatre and the labour ward where I was always regarded as having a safe pair of hands."

He adds that he has been left in a "desperate" situation as he was unemployed for two years.

The interview ends with some gentle, general questions. Neale reveals that he has 36 first editions of Graham Greene's novels. "I dream of finding a first edition of Brighton Rock in its original dust wrapper. It would be worth several thousand pounds."

He says he is currently reading Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks - "a wonderfully crafted love story set against the horrors of World War One".

Asked about his main hobby, he replies: "We live close by the River Ure (at Langthorpe, near Boroughbridge). I have photographed it from its source to the sea, and am researching its history."

On politics, he says: "Having been brought up Conservative, I voted Labour recently. You are supposed to have a socialist phase in youth. For me it seems to be the other way round."

He says his family is very important to him: "The love of a good woman and supportive family and friends hold us together." His Christian faith has also been important to him. He has been a Church of England reader since 1983 and although he has had to give that up, "I found much comfort and solace from many individuals in the church".

The interview ends with one final Neale flourish: "It is also important to reconcile myself with my detractors. I present myself, humbly, as a flawed doctor - perhaps more sinned against than sinner. I need to rebuild my professional career and regain my confidence. I am deeply ashamed at the position in which I find myself, and hope that the hospital that has had the compassion and the courage to employ me will continue to help me achieve reconciliation and restitution."

Last night, it emerged that that hospital had sacked him in April.