Black doctor admits faking hate crime to cover up negligence that led to death of patient
Robert Jenyo, a Nigerian-born medical practitioner in the UK, has admitted to making false allegations of racial verbal abuse from the son of one of his late patients in a desperate attempt to save his career.
Jenyo falsely claimed he was called a “f–king n—-r” and told to “give way for white doctors to work” by a deceased patient’s son, after being sued for negligence and investigated by the United Kingdom’s General Medical Council in 2015.
The disgraced doctor was struck off the General Medical Council (GMC) register after failing to detect signs of cancer in a patient, known as “Patient A,” complaining of shoulder and back pain in 2007. In May of this year, he appealed to the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service to get his medical license back.
In the most recent hearing, Jenyo confessed to the false allegations against the patient’s son, known as “Dr. AB” to maintain anonymity, as a “front” in hopes of “getting away with it.” Jenyo added that what he did was “completely wrong.”
His appeal was thrown out after it was discovered that Dr. AB, who “empathetically denied” the allegations, has not yet received an apology. “I had been under pressure at work and was stressed and I was trying to cover up things,” Jenyo said. “When the complaint came in, I did not want the details of this case to come out and suggest to patients, my colleagues and to the public, I am a bad doctor.”
“At the time, a high workload was making me tired and stressed but I now realize the impact my actions have had on Patient A and his family and I regret what happened.”
Jenyo was reported to the GMC after 60-year-old “Patient A” died three months after being diagnosed with cancer in 2007. Through the investigation, it was discovered that the patient had been telling Jenyo of shoulder and back pain beginning in 2005, two years before Jenyo referred the patient for physiotherapy, without any tests or X-rays being taken.
The man was later sent for an X-ray and had blood tests done after the physiotherapist noticed weight loss and pain which appeared “not to be mechanical.”
Patient A’s family sued Jenyo for medical negligence in 2010, and after two years, a settlement was reached for £30,000 without any admission of liability. Following the settlement, it was found out by the patient’s family that Jenyo had altered some of the medical documents, causing the patient’s son, Dr. AB, to file a formal complaint.
In 2015, Jenyo claimed that the accusations against him were “racially motivated.” He went on to claim that during a phone call in 2007, Dr. AB said: “I will ensure you are sued and struck off. Where do you come from – you to go back to your own country and give way for white doctors to work you f—ing n—-r.”
The GMC found that Jenyo made “serious and unjustified allegations against a fellow medical practitioner” without any “thought of the personal consequences such accusations would have for him and his reputation.”
“I am a good doctor who needs to care for his patients as my first priority. My skillset, attitude, and personality has changed, and I’m no longer stuck up and self-centered,” Jenyo said during the latest hearing. “At the time, I thought Patient A’s family were trying to attack my personality, and I used the allegations of racism as a front to get away with it. I now realize I was completely wrong.”
“I now appreciate that Patient A’s family would have been grieving his loss and that my accusations of racism against Dr. AB were completely wrong.” He went on to say, “I feel deep shame for accusing Dr. AB of racism, and I should have shown insight in realizing that this conduct was wrong.” “I take ownership of my actions and have put myself himself in the shoes’ of Patient A’s family and would act differently now.”
Members of the GMC say Jenyo showed a “limited understanding of what went wrong” and has shown “limited remorse” for his false allegations. The tribunal refused Jenyo’s application for his name to be restored to the UK Medical Register.
“Dr. Jenyo did not consider the significant impact that making false allegations of racism may have had on Dr. AB professionally and personally,” said tribunal chairman Lee Davies.