GP didn't tell patient he was at risk of cancer - then lied to cover his tracks

The patient was later diagnosed with prostate cancer and died

A GP failed to tell a patient he was at risk of cancer, then falsified medical records to cover his tracks, a tribunal heard.

Dr Siong Lee didn't inform the patient blood tests had revealed he had a heightened chance of developing prostate cancer. Two years later the patient was diagnosed with the disease and later died, a Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service heard.

The panel heard the day after a claim of medical negligence was made against Dr Lee, he changed the records to make it appear as if he conducted a telephone consultation with the patient. The following day he again altered the record to claim the patient 'does not want' a digital rectal examination, it was said.

Dr Lee, who at the time was was a GP Partner at King Street Medical Centre in Dukinfield, Tameside, has now been suspended for 12 months after the tribunal ruled he acted dishonestly and was guilty of 'serious misconduct which brought the profession into disrepute'.

The MPTS tribunal heard the patient had a blood test in November 2017 which revealed a 'high prostate specific antigen', which can be a sign of prostate cancer. In September 2019 he was sent for a urology examination after finding blood in his urine and then on November 7 that year, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.

During the diagnosis he was told that the 2017 blood test had revealed an elevated PSA level. But in a statement the patient, who died in June 2024 from complications arising from prostate cancer, told the tribunal this was the 'first time' he had been informed of that.

He added it came as a 'shock' to find out he had 'not been looked after properly'. In April 2020 a complaint of clinical negligence was lodged against Dr Lee. Over the next two days the GP changed the medical records, to make it appear as if he had informed the patient of the test results.

But Dr Lee denied acting dishonestly and told the tribunal that in mid-November 2017 he had been on holiday and returned to work to '800 plus tasks'. He said he remembered calling the patient to inform him of the test results and was 'adamant' that he advised him that that he needed to 'stick his finger up his backside'.

Dr Lee admitted he failed to log the conversation in the patient's medical record 'in the midst of a busy day' but said he later 'retrospectively updated the medical records to provided a clear and accurate record of events'.

But the panel ruled that the alteration to the records were 'unlikely to have arisen merely from poor contemporaneous record keeping' and that Dr Lee knew that they were incorrect and 'nonetheless made the amendments'.

Sarah Barlow, representing the GMC, told the tribunal that by acting dishonestly, Dr Lee, who retired from full-time practice in 2021 and now spends most of the year in Africa and Asia as a Christian missionary, had 'breached a fundamental tenet of the profession'.

The tribunal ruled that Dr Lee's actions amounted to 'serious misconduct which brought the medical profession into disrepute'. They wrote: "Ordinary, decent people would view the deliberate falsification of medical records and a deliberate attempt to mislead [the patient] in response to his complaint as dishonest."

The panel suspended Dr Lee for 12 months, having taken into account his 'long, unblemished career, the difficult circumstances in which he was operating, his developing insight and the fulsome testimonials of his former colleagues'.