A senior doctor has been suspended after he said a male colleague ‘looked bent’ because of his rainbow LGBTQ lanyard.
Dr Satnam Lidder also made fun of the junior doctor’s purple scrubs, a disciplinary hearing was told.
When the colleague complained, Dr Lidder falsely tried to smear him by saying he cheated on exams.
He has now been suspended for six months after being found guilty of serious misconduct by the panel which found the word ‘bent’ was ‘homophobic and offensive’.
The hearing of the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service heard Dr Lidder was working as a consultant in acute medicine at King’s College Hospital in London at the time of the incident in January 2021.
He was working in the emergency department when a junior doctor, referred to as Dr A, entered to use the computers.
Dr Lidder spoke to Dr A about his purple scrubs and pointed to his LGBTQ rainbow lanyard, saying ‘you look bent’.
The next day Dr A complained to a senior colleague about the remark and an investigation ensued.
Dr Satnam Lidder has been suspended after he said a male colleague ‘looked bent’ because of his rainbow LGBTQ lanyard
Dr Lidder has now been suspended for six months after being found guilty of serious misconduct by the panel which found the word ‘bent’ was ‘homophobic and offensive’
The hearing of the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service heard Dr Lidder was working as a consultant in acute medicine at King’s College Hospital in London (pictured) at the time of the incident in January 2021
He emailed them saying: ‘I was in the computer area and Dr Lidder came over to say hi. During this conversation he made remarks about the colour of my scrubs which were purple.
‘He went onto say that “I look bent”. He then pointed at my lanyard (a rainbow themed KCL lanyard) and went onto say that my lanyard was also bent.’
Dr A said that the comments made him feel uncomfortable and he ‘did not want to be associated with members of staff who are homophobic or make such remarks’.
He added: ‘I am very disturbed by that comment and not happy with it being “banter” and was concerned that people may think he condoned that as “banter”.’
A colleague added that Dr A looked ‘shaken and shocked’ by the incident.
The hearing was told that in March 2021, Dr Lidder told the Royal College of Physicians that Dr A had previously admitted to cheating on a medical exam by looking up the answers in the toilets during breaks.
Dr Lidder knew that this was untrue and was doing so to discredit the allegations put against him, the panel was told.
The case was taken to a medical practitioners tribunal where it was found that Dr Lidder’s actions ‘could bring the profession into disrepute’.
He was suspended for six months from June 4.
Dr Lidder left King’s College Hospital in October 2023 and now works at the George Eliot Hospital in Nuneaton, Warwickshire.
The tribunal, held in public and chaired by Mark Scott, concluded that: ‘It was the agreed position between the parties that if the word “bent” was used then this was a homophobic slur.
‘We also took this view and considered that by any objective test the word ‘bent’ was homophobic and offensive.
‘We were satisfied that fellow practitioners would be shocked to learn what Dr Lidder had done and would agree that his conduct was totally unacceptable.
‘We concluded that Dr Lidder’s conduct fell so far short of the standards of conduct reasonably to be expected of a doctor as to amount to serious misconduct.
‘We were satisfied that Dr Lidder’s conduct brought the medical profession into disrepute and that he breached a fundamental tenet of the profession, namely honesty and integrity.
‘As per our finding on facts, Dr Lidder had been found to have acted dishonestly.’
After the judgement, Dr Lidder said: ‘I am extremely embarrassed that the Tribunal has considered my actions to have been dishonest.
‘I have found this to be an extremely humbling experience and can assure the Tribunal that my actions will never be repeated.
‘I fully realise the sad fact that my actions occurred over the space of a few minutes, but I will have to live the rest of my life knowing the impact this has had, not only on myself, but also on Dr A.
‘I regret that I put him in this position at the beginning of his career and I appreciate the power imbalance he will have felt. I also appreciate that these matters will have had an effect on his family, friends and colleagues. I wholeheartedly apologise.
‘I acknowledge that I am not yet out of the woods and that I still have more work to do.’
