GP banned from practicing after beating himself up in bid to frame patient

An "inappropriate, desperate and dishonest" family doctor who beat himself up in order to frame a patient for assault has been suspended for a year.

Dr Gurkirit Kalkat, 58, had been carrying out what the patient assumed was a routine appointment at Thames View Medical Centre in Barking, East London, in February 2020.

When the patient entered Dr Kalkat's office, the 58-year-old began throwing himself against the door and hitting himself in the chest as he screamed: "Stop hitting me, ow! You're attacking me!"

Police were called to the scene of the bizarre incident - and led the patient away in handcuffs - but this wasn't the first curious consultation under Dr Kalkat, who, a tribunal heard, had long been trying to eject the man from his books.

In an earlier appointment, the same patient had discreetly taken a video of the doctor in which he claimed he had just months to live due to a fake case of terminal blood cancer - and even offered him a five-figure sum of money to leave his practice.

But when he didn't register at a different surgery, he was invited back - unaware he was about to be framed for assault.

The patient told the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS): "I went in to his office for my appointment and he gave me four weeks of prescriptions. Then he stood up and walked towards the door, threw himself against the door slightly and put his fist on his chest and said: 'stop hitting me.'

"I was still sat in the chair, and started to laugh a little bit because I honestly thought he was joking at first... But then he said to his receptionist: 'You just saw him hit me, didn't you?' - and she replied: 'Yes, I did.'

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"He said to me: 'Now you have used violence, you have to leave my surgery.' I replied to him: 'What are you doing? Are you being serious or is this some sick joke?'"

He went on to detail how the receptionist told Dr Kalkat to press the emergency button - despite the patient never having left his chair - though, fortunately, when police arrived, they believed him.

The patient told the tribunal how the doctor went on to admit to officers that he had been lying about his cancer diagnosis in an effort to force him out of the surgery.

He added: "Dr Kalkat made it look like I hit him, but he was punching himself whilst shouting that I was attacking him."

The 58-year-old doctor did not attend the subsequent tribunal hearing - instead, opting to claim via written submission that it was not safe enough to attend in person thanks to the patient's alleged "volatile" behaviour.

The no-show meant the tribunal couldn't test the doctor's evidence through oral questioning - but when all the available evidence was taken into account, it was "more likely than not" that Dr Kalkat had been lying, both to the patient and to police, MPTS chairman Stephen Killen said.

Killen, ruling, said: "Patient A submitted to giving oral evidence on all events, with the prospect of cross-examination.

"On the issue of whether he had assaulted Dr Kalkat, Patient A was immovable and consistently maintained that he had not.

"Dr Kalkat had been taking increasingly inappropriate, desperate and dishonest actions with a view to Patient A registering elsewhere... It was clear that, if Dr Kalkat reported Patient A for being violent towards him, he would no longer be required to act as his GP."

Dr Kalkat, who had denied any wrongdoing, was found guilty of serious professional misconduct and was suspended from medical practice for 12 months.