An NHS doctor accused of antisemitism has been suspended for 15 months pending an investigation, the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) in the UK has ruled.
The General Medical Council (GMC) is investigating Dr Rahmeh Aladwan over posts and comments made across various social media platforms after several complaints, including from the Jewish Medical Association UK and the Campaign Against Antisemitism.
The GMC counsel Emma Gilsenan told the MPTS hearing that Aladwan’s posts included content that allegedly “justifies terrorism, denies sexual violence, includes antisemitic conspiracy theories, misuses Holocaust and Nazi imagery and expresses support for proscribed groups and terrorist acts”.
She added that Aladwan, a British Palestinian trainee in trauma and orthopaedics, had allegedly referred to the Royal Free hospital in London as a “Jewish supremacy cesspit”, doxed NHS colleagues for raising concerns about her, and expressed explicit support for proscribed organisations such as Hamas and Palestine Action.
Gilsenan submitted that it was “unconscionable to consider that Dr Aladwan should be permitted to continue to practise”.
Aladwan’s lawyer, Kevin Saunders, submitted that the posts “fell into the category of legitimate political speech and debate” and that she denied making racist or hate speech. He added that there was “no information to suggest that Dr Aladwan presents a real and immediate risk to patient safety”.
In September, the MPTS ruled that it would not impose interim conditions on Aladwan’s registration, saying it did not believe the complaints against her were “sufficient to establish that there may be a real risk to patients”.
However, the tribunal’s chair, Lee Davies, found on Wednesday that her alleged conduct “may impact on patient confidence in both her and the profession and patients may be discouraged from seeking treatment from her”.
He said there had been “additional information” made available since September that “may indicate an escalation in the tone and nature of Dr Aladwan’s activities and posts, which may be considered to be extreme, offensive and antisemitic”.
Davies said: “The tribunal considers that the allegations, if found proved, are serious and appear to have arisen from persistent and prolonged posting of potentially egregious material which has been widely disseminated by Dr Aladwan, resulting in a number of individual complaints made to the GMC.
“While the tribunal is mindful of Dr Aladwan’s freedom of expression rights, it has noted a number of comments which allegedly support and celebrate terrorist acts and organisations, and promote violent action and offensive Jewish tropes.”
He added that “many complaints” had been received “from individual members of the public and various organisations”.
The interim suspension of 15 months on Aladwan, 31, took effect from Wednesday and will be reviewed within six months.
The GMC and MPTS assess the conduct of doctors and decide whether sanctions, including being struck off the medical register, are necessary. The MPTS interim orders tribunals decide if a doctor’s practice should be restricted while a GMC investigation takes place, but do not reach their own conclusions.
The health secretary, Wes Streeting, is seeking to overhaul the way medical regulators investigate cases of antisemitism after saying “the current medical regulatory system is completely failing to protect Jewish patients and NHS staff”.
