Unregistered doctor left woman with irreversible damage

At the sentencing of Dr Fakher Fouad Gendy, it was heard that the procedure led to the woman having pain and excessive bleeding for several days and required her to be omitted to hospital for further surgery.

The 74-year-old was sentenced at Warrington Magistrates Court on Thursday on a charge of providing regulated activities without being registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to do so.

Prosecuting on behalf of the CQC, Jemima Stephenson said Dr Gendy was under restrictions imposed by a Medical Practioners Tribunal at the time at the time of the offence which meant he was not to carry out any gynaecological procedures unless it was within an NHS setting, authorised and under supervision.

Breaching these restrictions as well as not being registered with the CQC, the doctor of more than four decades carried out a labiaplasty procedure which had been booked through his gynaecology clinic FEM-Aesthetics.

The complainant, who cannot be named due to court restrictions, contacted Dr Gendy on April 26, 2023, about paying to have the procedure which involves shortening or reshaping the skin folds around the vagina.

On June 10, the woman met the doctor at the clinic in Warrington, which was a rented space he was using to carry out procedures.

Ms Stephenson told the court how the surgery lasted up to two hours, with Dr Gendy putting the customer under local anaesthetic and using a scalpel to conduct the surgery.

It was said to have been a ‘painful’ experience with the complainant describing how she could ‘feel the knife cut into her’.  

“Once at home, the victim experienced significant bleeding and this continued into the following morning,” Ms Stephenson explained.

“She went back to the clinic, and he inserted some more stitches. When she got home the bleeding got worse.”

Despite her distress at the situation, Dr Gendy advised the woman not to attend A&E and he instead came to her home address to assess the complications further. The complainant told him not to touch her and later was admitted to the Liverpool Women’s Hospital on June 12 where she underwent further surgery.

The court heard that a gynaecologist at the hospital detailed how a substantial part of the labia had been removed and that the procedure Dr Gendy had carried out, in their professional opinion, was comparative to female genital mutilation and should have only been carried out under general anaesthetic.

 On June 14, the CQC wrote to Dr Gendy to inform him of the offence committed due to him being an ‘unregistered provider’.

“He accepted performing the procedure and also accepted he was not registered to do this.”

The prosecutor stated that despite the looming court case and being unregistered and suspended from medical practice, Dr Gendy still had the labia aesthetic procedure advertised on his website as recently as May.

An impact statement provided by the victim was read out to the court, in which she said: “This for me has been so difficult to write in words. I wish I never decided to go through with the surgery. I have such shame and guilt.

“I made a decision to get surgery with a doctor I could trust. This surgery for a woman is such a private matter. It has affected my life in so many ways.

“I lay in my bed bleeding while the doctor told me the bleeding was nothing to worry about. I was in so much pain.

“I am usually a happy go lucky girl, but honestly, I still have nightmares.

“I hope in time I can move on and be myself again.”

Dr Gendy has no previous convictions; however, he was recently suspended from practice after a medical tribunal hearing which found him guilty of serious professional misconduct in relation to botched birth deliveries of two babies.

Defending, Rebecca Strong said her client pleaded guilty on the basis that he was not registered with the commissioning board at the time of the incident but denies having carried out the procedure incorrectly.

She added that her client stated the bleeding experienced by the complainant was something that could happen with those types of procedures and that he was under the impression the woman was happy with the result of the surgery when it had initially been completed.

Referring to Dr Gendy’s website, where the procedure is still available to book, she explained that he does not have access to this, and it is run by another individual.

Addressing the defendant before sentencing in relation to the surgery, District Judge McGarva said: “The woman had heavy blood loss and she needed further stitches from you.

“She was told from the hospital that what was done to her was closure to female genital mutilation.

“An experienced gynaecologist said the procedure has caused permanent damage.

“I can be sure that you were in breach of GMC restrictions. You cannot plead ignorance with your level of experience.”

Dr Gendy was sentenced to 16 weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months, and ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work. He was also ordered to pay £5,000 costs and £154 victim surcharge.

Ceri Morris-Williams, interim deputy director of transition at CQC commented on the sentencing, saying: “I hope this outcome sends a clear message to others that where we find providers operating outside of the law, we will always use our enforcement powers to protect people and hold them to account to stop poor and illegal practice.

“It is unacceptable that Dr Gendy trading as FEM-Aesthetics risked people’s safety by running a service without the benefit of CQC registration, so I welcome Dr Gendy's guilty plea to this offence.

“The registration process is important to appropriately assess services before they care for people. Services are then monitored and inspected to ensure that they continue to meet fundamental standards of care that everyone should be able to expect. Un-registered services operate without oversight, putting people at risk of harm.

“When we find individuals operating unlawfully, we won’t hesitate to act to protect people, as we did in this case.”