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

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 In Germany, some politicians had their doctorate withdrawn when their dissertations were checked.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:
His 1993 doctoral thesis was on the relationship between crime and schizophrenia.
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and this:
In 1993 the University of London conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Medicine
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Couldn't find it in the UCL library catalogue nor in the ETHOS (e-theses online service)... :(
 
NelliePledge said:
What does it say about psychiatry that you can get away with no qualifications for this long without any peers picking up on it.
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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.
 
Skycloud said:
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.
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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.
 
Sean said:
My first thought was: 'How can they tell?'
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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.
 
Merged thread

Mwhaahahaaahahahaha! :rofl::eek::rolleyes:

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

A fraudulent doctor who worked in the NHS for 20 years has been convicted of a “deliberate and wicked deception” after forging a medical degree certificate and practising as a psychiatrist without the necessary qualifications.

Zholia Alemi, who is believed to be 60, worked in hospitals across England, Wales and Scotland and received income and benefits of more than £1m across her career, Manchester crown court heard.
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I guess the fact she got away with it for so long is indicative as to how "useful" psychiatry is?
 
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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.
 
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