Doctor circumcised boy 'without seeking his opinion'

A doctor circumcised a seven-year-old boy without seeking his opinion and without his father's consent, a medical tribunal has heard.

Dr Balvinder Mehat is accused of misconduct in relation to the circumcision, which was carried out at Bakersfield Medical Centre in Nottingham.

The medical tribunal heard the boy was taken to the practice by his mother, who wanted a circumcision for "spiritual and cultural reasons".

Mehat is then alleged to have asked the mother to sign a backdated disclaimer form after the boy's father complained about the circumcision.

The General Medical Council (GMC) investigated the case and referred Mehat to a Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) hearing.

The hearing heard the boy is of mixed heritage and his Zimbabwean mother wanted him circumcised, while his father did not.

The father, referred to as Mr B, told the hearing that Mehat should have checked he had also consented.

"A doctor should be more concerned with the child's welfare and safeguarding, especially when the names are different and the heritage of the child is different from the mother," he said.

"There could be conflicting opinions on circumcision, there could be differences in opinion, and therefore he should have done more thorough checks."

This is the fourth medical tribunal Mehat has faced.

In March 2019, he was suspended for one month when his fitness to practice was determined to be impaired, due to Nottingham City Council cautioning him for numerous offences in relation to rental properties he owned.

Then, in September 2019, he was suspended for one month because he circumcised a baby without his mother's consent.

At the time, the MPTS decided there was a "very low risk of repetition" and "no risk to patients" by allowing him to continue working.

Dr Mehat's third tribunal was then in December 2024, when he was given a warning for making derogatory comments about Muslim patients.

The boy in the latest case was circumcised by Mehat on 19 October 2022.

Alan Taylor, representing the GMC, said the boy's parents had married in 2019 but were separated by the time their son was circumcised.

"The background is that Miss C [the boy's mother] decided for spiritual and cultural reasons to have her son circumcised," he told the tribunal.

Consent for circumcising a child should be obtained from both parents, according to GMC guidance.

The mother provided Mehat with a copy of the boy's birth certificate but she had not named the father on there.

She also signed a consent form but did not name him on there either.

"She did not provide details about her son's father's involvement in the boy's life, nor in relation to the father's knowledge about the procedure taking place," Taylor said.

Taylor said the father only found out about the circumcision a few days later when he was looking after his son, and he phoned Mehat on 22 October to complain.

"The following day, 23 October, he called Dr Mehat again to tell him he had to take Patient A [his son] to A&E at Royal Derby Hospital in the middle of the night because he was in agony," said Taylor.

"The plastibell had migrated and there was an infection."

Mehat is alleged to have asked the mother to sign a disclaimer form for the procedure on 24 October, even though it had already been carried out.

He is then alleged to have asked her to sign a further disclaimer form on 8 December, backdated to 19 October.

The GMC instructed a paediatric surgeon, Simon Clarke, to produce a report about the actions of Mehat.

In relation to circumcision, his report stated: "If a child presents with only one parent, the doctor must make every effort to contact the other parent in order to seek consent."

Clarke also said that children themselves should be involved "as much as possible in decisions around their care".

However, Clarke said he had not found any evidence that Patient A's opinion had been sought on the circumcision, and said Mehat had "failed to involve the child in the decision-making process".

The tribunal is expected to take about two weeks, and will also hear evidence from Patient A's mother.

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