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A paramedic has been struck off after subjecting an overweight patient to a barrage of cruel and demeaning comments, including suggesting that she liked “chips, chips and more chips”.
Matthew Goodey, who was based at a GP surgery, criticised the woman over her weight, calling her a “big girl” and suggesting that someone push her in a sack barrow.
He also told the patient: "I bet you were always told to finish your plate."
The incidents occurred during a phone consultation in July 2020, when Mr Goodey was working as an emergency care practitioner in Eye, Suffolk.
The patient, identified only as Service User F, had called with concerns about her leg and foot, prompting Mr Goodey to question her about her weight.
He also said “I bet you come from a house where you were always told to finish your plate” and “you don’t want to be sitting there in a chair with your feet up eating chips, chips and more chips”.
A panel ruled that Mr Goodey had bullied not only Service User F but also other patients, leading to his removal from the medical register. The name of the GP practice where he was employed has not been disclosed.
Service User F complained to the surgery the day after the call.
She said that she had depression and that the comments had made her “taken aback and then distracted from concentrating on the rest of the consultation”.
Mr Goodey received a second complaint in November 2020.
open image in gallery A patient told Matthew Goodey that she had taken up smoking to stop self-harming ( PA Archive )
It came after he met with a patient identified only as Service User D, who confided in the professional that she had taken up smoking in order to stop her self-harming.
Mr Goodey then told the young woman “self-harming won't kill you but smoking will”, leading her to leave in tears to her step-mother who was waiting outside.
Service User D said that the incident was “quite triggering for her self-harming”.
The paramedic had met her previously and knew about the state of her mental health.
The step-mother immediately complained to the reception of the GP surgery and then wrote an official complaint, but was told that Mr Goodey would just be given a verbal warning.
She felt “let down” that the surgery continued to let him work.
Almost a year later in September 2021, another patient complained about Mr Goodey's conduct.
Service User F, a 14-year-old girl, attended with her mother and complained that she had difficulty breathing when she was swimming.
She told the paramedic that they had tried some options but wanted to look into things further.
Mr Goodey seemed “rushed and flippant” and said to the girl: “Wait, you're struggling to breathe during swimming? Hang on, so when you swim fast at a competitive level you struggle to breathe?”
He laughed sarcastically and, seeing that Service User F was distressed, her mother decided to end the appointment early.
She complained the next day and said that afterwards her daughter felt that she “should not talk about her concerns or worries”.
Service User F was later diagnosed with an eating disorder.
In March 2023, Mr Goodey was suspended and dismissed due to a separate concern.
Now, the Health and Care Professions Tribunal Service has struck him off the medical register.
The panel said: "The Panel had found proved that in a consultation with Service User F [Goodey] made a series of comments relating to Service User F’s weight."[Goodey] had admitted the facts of this charge.
"The Panel considered that these comments were, on their face, inappropriate and offensive.
"They were clearly inappropriate in the context of a clinical consultation between a healthcare professional and a service user.
"Whilst it may be clinically legitimate to discuss matters concerning a service user’s weight management when they are seeking advice concerning leg and foot pain, the manner in which [Goodey] did so in speaking to Service User F was unacceptable."
The panel also found that Mr Goodey acted inappropriately with his comments to other patients.