An NHS doctor has been suspended after calling a Mexican colleague a ‘donkey sh*****’.
Dr. Tom Burton, an emergency room consultant at Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Trust, was berated by a tribunal for his ‘racist banter’.
The 60-year-old medic, who began practicing in the 1990s, admitted he made the comment to the doctor during a “salacious team call” in November 2020.
But dr. Burton claimed it was only made in retaliation after the same colleague, of Mexican descent, “looked me in the eye and said something about my sexual interest in sheep.”
The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service heard from a witness that his comment was not ‘out of the blue’, but ‘crossed the line’.
Dr. Tom Burton, an emergency room consultant at Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Trust, was berated by a tribunal for his ‘racist banter’. In the photo the Chesterfield Royal Hospital
Dr. Burton – known to have an “unblemished disciplinary record and career” – also confessed to writing the same sentence on a bottle he believed belonged to the unknown member of staff.
He was suspended for four months because of the ‘gravity of his misconduct’.
“Dr. Burton’s conduct fell so far short of the standards of conduct that can reasonably be expected of a physician as to constitute serious misconduct,” the panel ruled.
But it noted that Dr Burton is a ‘good doctor who is held in high esteem by colleagues and patients’.
Despite the suspension, the tribunal acknowledged that it was a “clumsy joke” and that there was a “culture of totally inappropriate chatter” in the place where they worked.
But it said that Dr. Burton did not have a “close or amicable working relationship” with his colleague, despite working together for “a number of years.”
Dr. Burton apologized for his mistakes and took recovery courses at his own expense.
He had also been the subject of an internal investigation and lost his job.
The colleague, only Dr. A, accused Dr. Burton of making comments on November 24, 2020 that amounted to unlawful racial harassment.
In front of Dr. A, a deputy consultant in the hospital’s emergency department, and other staff, Dr. Burton was accused of saying words along the lines of “I hear Mexicans sh** asses.”
Dr. A said the comment seemed to come out of “nowhere” and “took them by surprise” because it “seemed pretty discriminatory to make, especially in front of all my colleagues.”
Dr. A admitted angrily replying that ‘I heard the English shag sheep’, to which Dr Burton said that ‘it was not the English, but the Welsh’.
But in the report of Dr. Burton, given as part of an internal investigation by the Trust, said his comment was made during a “rude and salacious team conversation” about “sexual matters” involving five to 10 doctors, nurses and health assistants.
He said Dr. A “said something about my sexual interest in sheep,” to which Dr. Burton claimed to have replied, “I think donkeys are more to your taste.”
The next day, Dr. A claimed that Dr. Burton passed him in the hallway and told him that ‘I put a label on your bottle, donkey sh*****’.
On top of this conversation, Dr. A. accused Burton of writing “donkey sh*****” on a label and sticking it on a black water bottle that resembled a sex toy, which he believed belonged to Dr. A. .
Dr. Burton admitted to doing this, but this was to “continue the joke from the day before” and that he “didn’t mean a racial element.” At that point, Dr A. made a formal complaint to the Trust, saying ‘enough was enough’.
After learning of the complaint against him, Dr Burton was charged with ‘unlawful victimization’ in January and February 2021.
This was after telling a colleague that Dr A. was in the UK when he told the hospital he had to go abroad on empathy leave. Dr. Burton was also accused of questioning whether Dr. A was fit to practice medicine.
In addition, Dr Burton told colleagues he was concerned about Dr A working ‘back to back’ shifts and reportedly asked for information about their work patterns.
The MPTS concluded that it was ‘very clear’. Dr. Burton’ referred to sh****** donkeys in the presence of Dr. A’ when he then proceeded to write it on their water bottle as a continuation of the ‘joke’.
The ruling stated that it was ‘more likely than not’ that Dr A’s account was correct as it was supported by another medic.
The verdict stated that while the pair of medics never fell out, they both avoided each other and that Dr. A, along with other colleagues, referred to Dr. Burtons’ lack of social awareness and his poor attempt at making jokes that he found funny. ‘.
While the comment was clearly “inappropriate, unprofessional and offensive” — as the banter was not “mutual” — it did not create an “intimidating, hostile, humiliating, humiliating or abusive environment,” the ruling said.
But Dr Burton’s act of writing “donkey sh*****” on the water bottle did create such an environment, the tribunal found.
It also concluded that Dr. Burton raised questions about Dr. A’s whereabouts, tried to learn more about Dr. A’s work patterns, and raised Dr. A’s fitness to practice with colleagues.
In doing so, Dr Burton “questioned the integrity and honesty of any person who had brought a complaint against him,” which the tribunal said amounted to unlawful retaliation.