A CONSULTANT who destroyed a patient's breast X-ray has been found guilty of misconduct.
But a disciplinary panel of the General Medical Council did not impose any punishment on Dr John Philip, of Huddersfield.
Dr Philip, clinical director of the Bradford Pennine Breast Screening Service, admitted discarding the X-ray.
It belonged to a woman who was later diagnosed with breast cancer, but the panel imposed no punishment, saying his actions did not harm the woman.
Panel chairman Dr Roger Ferguson told Dr Philip it was an isolated incident.
Dr Philip, who had a clinic in Murray Road, Edgerton, was also accused of not being qualified to read the breast screenings.
But the GMC said he was not required to meet the Royal College of Radiologists' criteria and had performed well in annual assessments.
They said the destruction of the mammo- gram had made no difference to the later diagnosis of breast cancer and did not affect the patient's treatment.
There was never any allegation that the doctor had failed to diagnose breast cancer, the panel said.
The patient, known only as Mrs A, was twice examined by Dr Philip at a private clinic in Sheffield in 1994 and 1996.
Months after her second appointment Mrs A was diagnosed with cancer in her right breast. It later spread and became terminal. She died in May, 1998, aged 39.
The GMC said Dr Philip, clinical director of the screening service and employed by Bradford Teaching Hospital NHS Trust, should have kept the mammogram films and asked Mrs A if she wanted them.
But they heard he was examining about 5,000 mammograms each year and ruled he had "considerable experience" in the field.
The chairman added: "The panel does not consider that the public interest would be served by the issuing of a warning."
