Family of doctor who took own life after GMC email cannot sue GMC over his death

The family of a doctor who took his own life within hours of receiving an email from the General Medical Council (GMC) has failed in their bid to sue the GMC for damages over his death.1

Sridharan Suresh, a consultant anaesthetist, drowned himself in the river Tees in May 2018 after receiving an email from the GMC telling him that he would be called before an interim orders tribunal over allegations that he had inappropriately touched a 15 year old female patient.2

He had given the girl midazolam, which can have hallucinatory side effects. He strongly denied the allegation, her description of the perpetrator was strikingly different from his appearance, and the police later dropped the case for lack of evidence.

Suresh was suspended from work at North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust for an initial period of two weeks but was told by the medical director that the trust would not report him to the GMC unless police found enough evidence to charge him. But police themselves reported him to …