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Woman faked qualifications and worked in uk as a psychiatrist for 20 years

Discussion in 'Other health news and research' started by NelliePledge, Nov 19, 2018.

  1. large donner

    large donner Guest

    Messages:
    1,214
    The other way to go about it is to get qualified then just fake the studies for decades.
     
    Ariel, ukxmrv, inox and 11 others like this.
  2. Lisa108

    Lisa108 Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    Location:
    Germany
    Another way would be to plagiarize large parts of your doctoral thesis. In Germany, some politicians had their doctorate withdrawn when their dissertations were checked. One case was that of Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg.

    On a completely different topic: I wanted to read the thesis by Sir Simon Wessely. I couldn't even find the title of it.
    Wikipedia knows this:
    and this:
    Couldn't find it in the UCL library catalogue nor in the ETHOS (e-theses online service)... :(
     
  3. Skycloud

    Skycloud Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    2,187
    Location:
    UK
    I don't know what it says about psychiatry. I wouldn't be surprised if it says something about politics, false economy, and decisions being made by the wrong people so that there was a loophole to exploit.
     
    Invisible Woman and Trish like this.
  4. Skycloud

    Skycloud Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    2,187
    Location:
    UK
    Also it also says a lot about the individual and her lack of honesty, integrity and care for others. The slim facts we read in this article don't say anything much about psychiatry. It's worrying, especially for the people she has treated over the years. I understand from things I've read that there are issues in psychiatry that need addressing but I don't think this adds to them.
     
    Hutan and Russell Fleming like this.
  5. TiredSam

    TiredSam Committee Member

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    10,482
    Location:
    Germany
    They couldn't, until she tried nicking 1.3 million quid, at which point someone somewhere raised an eyebrow and thought "Hang on, that's a bit brazen even for a UK psychiatrist ..."

    Being a foreigner, she didn't realise that in the UK psychiatrists pull off such scams in teams, for much larger amounts, and only when they know they've got people in the press and other high places to cover their backs. Hence her scam stood out like a sore thumb and she got what was coming to her for messing with the GMC and straying onto their patch.
     
    Ariel, ukxmrv, andypants and 9 others like this.
  6. Sean

    Sean Moderator Staff Member

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    7,044
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    Australia
    :D
     
    ukxmrv, NelliePledge and TiredSam like this.
  7. Perrier

    Perrier Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    andypants likes this.
  8. ladycatlover

    ladycatlover Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    Location:
    Liverpool, UK
    Merged thread

    Mwhaahahaaahahahaha! :rofl::eek::rolleyes:

    Not sure if this is the right place for this, since it's actually psychiatric news...

    I guess the fact she got away with it for so long is indicative as to how "useful" psychiatry is?
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 17, 2023
    oldtimer, RedFox, alktipping and 13 others like this.
  9. Trish

    Trish Moderator Staff Member

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    51,871
    Location:
    UK
    I remember reading about this several years ago. Presumably it's back in the news because it's come to court.
     
    Ariel, Hutan, alktipping and 7 others like this.
  10. DokaGirl

    DokaGirl Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    Why weren't credentials verified?

    Maybe they're never verified???


    This would make a good movie....
     
  11. ladycatlover

    ladycatlover Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    3,702
    Location:
    Liverpool, UK
    It seems she was jailed some years ago for similar stuff, but it involved forging wills to her benefit. Also forging Powers of Attorney. Shades of Shipman?
     
    RedFox, Sean, alktipping and 2 others like this.
  12. TigerLilea

    TigerLilea Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    Location:
    Metro Vancouver, BC - Canada
    There have been a few nurses here in Canada who have been discovered to have been working for years in Canadian hospitals without being licensed to practice medicine. The one woman was using another nurses name and credentials.
     
    ladycatlover, alktipping and Lilas like this.
  13. Jonathan Edwards

    Jonathan Edwards Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    13,273
    Location:
    London, UK
    I worked as a rheumatologist for over thirty years without ever doing an exam in rheumatology - as did we all in 1975. The UK public have always been too trusting I suspect.
     
    ukxmrv, FMMM1, MeSci and 7 others like this.
  14. DigitalDrifter

    DigitalDrifter Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    They made something very similar called Catch Me If You Can.
    I could really use a Dr Harold Shipman right now, thanks to the UK's barbaric anti-euphenasia laws.
     
    DokaGirl likes this.
  15. hibiscuswahine

    hibiscuswahine Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    464
    She did med school in Auckland, NZ. She got a Bachelor of Human Biology, the undergraduate degree at that university, but failed to pass the MBChB exams in year five, (so also did not do an intern year and got no provisional or full registration). She then went to the UK.

    She then fraudulently made it look like she passed her medical degree and the GMC in the UK didn’t check with Auckland Uni or NZMC…

    In the UK, she then got on to a psychiatry training scheme and passed all exams and became a consultant psychiatrist.

    Edit. Additional info

    She also faked the Certificate of Good Standing that the NZMC provide for doctors to register with the GMC. So repeated fraudulent activity as well as the wills. This woman lacks integrity and has nothing to do with the practice of psychiatry. I am not aware of any clinical complaints other than her gross unprofessionalism around wills etc.

    NZ has had foreign psychiatrists fake their credentials from Europe, been involved in major mental health scandals, releasing patients with severe mental health disorders off the Mental Health Act, who have gone on to murder people.

    Very troublesome, so now, the NZMC are very strict on entry criteria for all specialists requesting entry and registration and vetting often takes years. Often they have done their specialist training in the UK as international doctors but GMC has not had the necessary paperwork to meet NZ’s high standards.
     
    Last edited: Feb 17, 2023

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