Fantasist doctor loses job claim
Aug 20 2004
By Mark Hookham Daily Post Staff
A DOCTOR who changed his name to James Bond was yesterday described as "an irrepressible fantasist".
Dr Sushant Varma, 32, lost his claim for constructive dismissal from his job at Halton Hospital, in Runcorn, Cheshire.
The junior house doctor, who used the e-mail address
[email protected], was suspended from his post as house officer after senior doctors became concerned about him.
An employment tribunal in Liverpool yesterday ruled his managers had been right to believe his bizarre behaviour was either due to mental illness or a "serious defect of personality".
During the tribunal, the panel heard Dr Varma falsely claimed on his CV that he had appeared on the ITV show Blind Date.
He also told colleagues he had been invited to appear on the television show Big Brother after attending an interview at The Grosvenor Hotel, in Chesterfield. But the hotel did not exist.
Dr Varma also told colleagues he was involved in a number of heroic rescues including saving a woman from a burning car, preventing a child from being run over and stopping an old woman being mugged.
Dr Varma told the tribunal he had received bravery awards, but later reduced this to having received a handshake from the Mayor of Sheffield.
The tribunal also heard how the hospital received emails from a mysterious character called Matthew Jackson.
The emails made claims about race discrimination and were discovered to have come from Dr Varma's home computer.
The tribunal panel, which was chaired by Eryl Lloyd Parry, said: "We did not believe that there was such a person as that.
Here was a persona behind whom the applicant could shelter while venting the resentments of his fantasy."
Other allegations included reports Dr Varma was offered a bribe by someone who looked like his former vice-chancellor at Sheffield University, where he had studied.
He claimed he had been offered a choice of a Rolls-Royce or Bentley, and a Dean's salary for life.
The tribunal panel said: "We decided that it was a fabrication of one who could not properly distinguish fantasy from reality. If the applicant believes it himself, that represents a serious problem, one unacceptable in a practising doctor."
The panel added that the hospital was right to be concerned about his character.
It added: "They could not dismiss the possibility that he was suffering from a mental illness. If he was not, then he must be labouring under a serious defect of personality.
"The accumulation of bizarre incidents compelled such a view.
"Many might be put down to a young man's exuberance or to mere eccentricity.
"But they added up to a disquieting whole: Blind Date, Big Brother, heroic rescues, resisting a bribe that might have seduced the strongest, James Bond, Matthew Jackson, the list could go on. "Here was, at least, an irrepressible fantasist."
He resigned from the hospital on May 15, 2002, prior to a disciplinary hearing into his conduct.
He claimed constructive dismissal, unfair dismissal, racial and
sexual discrimination, protected disclosure and breach of contract. The tribunal panel unanimously ruled against all his complaints.
Last night, Dr Varma told the Daily Post he would appeal.
He added: "This is barmy. It had three lever arch files of evidence which I wanted to go through at the tribunal.
"I could have refuted all but two of the charges. I do admit and put my hand on my heart on the fact that I made up the Blind Date story. But I wanted a talking point on my CV."
Mick Curwen, deputy director of human resources at North Cheshire Hospitals NHS Trust said: "We are delighted that this Trust, which is wholly committed to creating equal opportunities for staff and does not tolerate discrimination of any kind, has been vindicated."
