A doctor has been struck off after telling a young girl to remove her face mask during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Gary Denby, who operated the Foot Wise Podiatry clinic in Woodford Halse for over two decades, was treating a 13-year-old girl in a verruca appointment.
The Northamptonshire podiatrist was found by the Health and Care Professions Tribunal Service to have “created an obvious risk of harm” to the “nervous” teenager and her mother during the consultation on July 28, 2021.
The HCPTS ruled that Mr Denby demanded the girl remove her face mask during the Covid-19 pandemic, subjected her to “inappropriate” dietary guidance unrelated to her foot condition, and behaved in an aggressive manner that left the child in tears.
Read Also: Tiger Woods makes first public appearance since ban from driving
Read Also: Ex-Wimbledon champion leaves US Open court in floods of tears after suffering major upset
The girl’s mother lodged a formal complaint with the professional body just two days after the appointment, accusing Mr Denby of displaying an “unusually aggressive and disrespectful attitude” towards her daughter.
She alleged: “He did not give any attention to her feet choosing to bombard her with questions and berating her.”
The misconduct panel heard that Mr Denby had overwhelmed the teenager with questions about human physiology rather than focusing on her verrucae.
When the mother stepped in to answer on her daughter’s behalf, he reportedly told the girl: “You said that without opening your mouth!”
He also insisted she remove her face covering, telling her: “Take your mask off and answer my question or I won’t be able to treat you.”
The tribunal determined that Mr Denby was “seeking to impose his own view” regarding face coverings whilst himself failing to wear a mask, contrary to health guidance at the time.
Following the appointment, Mr Denby emailed the teenager’s mother attributing her daughter’s persistent warts to “a poor diet” and expressing concern that the girl might be “limiting her dairy-calcium intake, which is VERY necessary at her age for normal height and bone density development”.
He offered meal suggestions, advising the mother to “mix favourite with new” and listing combinations such as “tomatoes and courgettes” and “grated cheese and cucumber”.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
- Britain wasted almost £10 BILLION buying PPE during Covid pandemic
- Covid fraud ‘three times bigger’ than estimate – reaching eye-watering £37billion, scientists claim
- New ‘AI-designed’ vaccine tested on humans that can work on ALL types of Covid
In his clinical notes, Mr Denby recorded the patient as “too nervous to treat or answer questions” and wrote that she “became tearful” during what he described as “simple and purposeful questioning”.
The tribunal concluded that this dietary guidance was “unnecessary and erroneous”, given the appointment had been booked solely to address the girl’s verrucae.
Despite the findings against him, Mr Denby dismissed the proceedings entirely.
In correspondence with the HCPTS ahead of the tribunal, he wrote: “A review is a complete waste of my time and of HCPC resources. I retired seven months ago.”
He accused the regulatory body of “failing repeatedly in its obligation to protect the patient from harmful practice and the registered practitioner from unjust or malicious accusation”.
Mr Denby also complained that nobody “with decision-making powers ever reads my file” and that the allegations stemmed from events so long ago that “no-one remembers the situation in any detailed accuracy”.
The tribunal found he had “not developed the degree of understanding” necessary to provide confidence he would not repeat such behaviour, ruling that striking him off was “proportionate”.
Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter
