The mother of a boy who died after a paediatrician mishandled his case has hit out at the decision to reinstate her.

Dr Hadiza Bawa-Garba was struck off in January after being convicted of gross negligence manslaughter over the death of six-year-old Jack Adcock.

But she challenged the decision at the Court of Appeal, which yesterday unanimously ruled her name should be restored to the medical register and a previous punishment of of a year’s suspension was sufficient.

MORE: Man accidentally gets the wrong wedding date tattooed on his finger


Jack Adcock died in 2011 (Picture: PA)

Jack’s mother Nicola Adcock has called the ruling ‘an absolute disgrace’.



She told ITV News: ‘It makes a mockery of the justice system.

‘If she’d (Dr Bawa-Garba) have done what she should have done that day I know my son would still be here 99.9% and I will never budge from that.’

Jack, from Glen Parva, Leicestershire – who had Down’s syndrome and a heart condition – died at Leicester Royal Infirmary in 2011 after he developed sepsis.

In 2015 Dr Bawa-Garba was sentenced to two years in prison suspended for two years at Nottingham Crown Court.

The judge said neither she nor a nurse who was on duty ‘gave Jack the priority which this very sick boy deserved’, which included a misdiagnosis from the paediatrician.

She had also mistakenly marked him as ‘do not resuscitate’ after confusing him with another patient.

Mrs Adcock added in interview with Leicester Mercury: ‘We feel absolutely devastated and let down. What they have done is a mockery of the justice system.

‘She has contributed to a child’s death, but she’ll be able to work again.

‘What does it take to be struck off as a doctor?’

MORE: Man gets stuck in the mud while trying to rescue his pet parrot

Caption: Nicola (commonly known as Nicky) Adcock the mother of six-year-old Jack Adcock (Picture: PA)

Dr Bawa-Garba said she was happy after winning her appeal, telling BBC’s Panorama programme: ‘I’m very pleased with the outcome but I want to pay tribute and remember Jack Adcock, a wonderful little boy that started the story.

‘I want to let the parents know that I’m sorry for my role in what has happened to Jack.

‘I also want to acknowledge and give gratitude to people around the world from the public to the medical community who have supported me. I’m very overwhelmed by the generosity and I’m really grateful for that.’

MORE: Man gets stuck in the mud while trying to rescue his pet parrot

Dr Hadiza Bawa-Garba, who was convicted of gross negligence manslaughter after the death of six-year-old Jack Adcock (Picture: PA)

Supporters of Dr Hadiza Bawa-Garba speak to the media outside the Royal Courts of Justice, after she won her bid to be reinstated (Picture: PA)

Giving the appeal court’s ruling, the Master of the Rolls, Sir Terence Etherton, said: ‘The tribunal was satisfied that her deficient actions in relation to Jack were neither deliberate nor reckless, that she had remedied the deficiencies in her clinical skills and did not present a continuing risk to patients, and that the risk of her clinical practice suddenly and without explanation falling below the standards expected on any given day was no higher than for any other reasonably competent doctor.’



Dr Bawa-Garba’s case was remitted to the MPT for review of the suspension, which will remain in place in the meantime.

Got a story for Metro.co.uk? If you have a story for our news team, email us at webnews@metro.co.uk. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter.