Breach of Trust: George Osborne’s brother, Dr Adam Osborne is stuck off the medical register after an ‘inappropriate’ relationship with a female patient, his career will be known for drugs, escorts and an affair with a patient, had it all and lost it all, so many advantages in life but this time the GMC had no option but to remove him from practicing as a doctor

Dear All

There are certain positions held in society where a high level of trust is placed and is expected by people holding those positions. The medical profession is one such area where a doctor needs to exhibit the highest standards.

If you can’t trust a doctor as they say, who can you trust?

Some time ago I did a piece of Dr Adam Osborne; he is the brother of George Osborne, the Conservative Chancellor. Awhile ago, I covered a story where he fallen foul of the General Medical Council due to his antics.

http://glasgowunihumanrights.blogspot.co.uk/2010/02/george-laird-accurately-predicts-that.html

This was a follow up post regarding Osborne supplying prescription drugs to a cocaine addict prostitute'.

After his hearing, he was suspended for six months, which I got right, prior to the verdict. Having a brush with the medical authorities, you might think that this would have been the kick up the arse he needed to get him and his career back on track. Life however is complicated, and although you can’t pick your family, you can certainly pick your friends. Dr. Adam Osborne seems to be bad at the latter, now he has been stuck off the medical register as a doctor.

His career is destroyed because of a relationship deemed inappropriate with a female patient. Osborne should have known better, in my youth, I was a teacher, and right from the start, I knew that relationships with my female students were inappropriate, because people expect better. One time at Uni, two female medics were in the swimming pool, one shouted up to me, ‘I want to have your babies’. I just laughed that off, the second one who I taught then said the exact same thing, I replied, ‘I am your coach’, to which a very quick, ‘sorry’ was immediately said, the rules are the rules.

So, Adam Osborne had a secret two-year affair with a female patient, he also had a partner, as a psychiatrist surely Osborne had the ability to recognize that this scenario was a recipe for disaster. Maybe he liked the danger, maybe he liked the thrill, but he must have known sooner or later it would all blow up in his face.

In a series of emails to his deeply troubled former lover, he went from ‘begging to threatening’ as the pressure of exposure increased, sometimes the best course of action is to shut your mouth and not give people ammunition to use against you.

'Please don't do this to me — it will destroy me and my family in public,' read one message from him.

Another email ran to:
'You still have the power to tell the GMC [General Medical Council] that you made this up because you were angry at me for discontinuing therapy or that you were confused, paranoid, deluded — whatever excuse you can think of.'

When that tactic didn’t work, he started to threaten her:

'If I get into trouble for this, then I will never forgive you and I will make sure you pay.'

This threatening email is properly what sealed his fate; a person in his position cannot go round making threats of vengeance.  

This week, a tribunal ruled that Osborne's 'deplorable behaviour' meant that his fitness to practice was impaired; the same panel ordered that he be struck off from the medical register.

In other words, his medical career is over, gone and never coming back. All those years of long study and training, the sacrifice, the long hours, the hectic studying, the pressure of exams, all wasted now.

Ruling against him, chairman Dr Nigel Callaghan, said:

'The tribunal regards Dr Osborne's behaviour as profoundly unacceptable and [it] undermines the public's confidence in the medical profession. By his actions, Dr Osborne has brought the reputation of the medical profession into disrepute, breached a fundamental tenet of the medical profession and put [the patient] at risk of harm.'

Some people get extraordinary chances in life, some of those chances allow them to do good, after having it all, having every advantage and opportunity, yet again, we see someone destroying themselves when they had something others can only dream of.

This is just another one of those cases.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University