A Nigerian-born doctor who had previously been suspended in the UK for lying about his age was on Tuesday jailed after he admitted to killing a patient in a botched diagnostic procedure.
Colleagues had thought Isyaka Mamman, 85, should have retired after he had twice made mistakes on similar procedures before the fatal incident in September 2018.
He admitted gross negligence manslaughter at a previous hearing in connection with the death of Shahida Parveen, at a hospital in northwest England.
Manchester Crown Court was told he used the wrong needle and inserted it in the wrong place as he tried to take a bone marrow sample.
Parveen died after the needle pierced her heart sac, causing massive internal bleeding.
Judge Amanda Yip jailed Mamman for three years and said the background to the case was “troubling” because of discrepancies about his age and two previous critical incidents in 2015.
She questioned why he was allowed to continue to work. “Sadly there were failings in the system,” she added.
Mamman qualified as a doctor in Nigeria in 1965, began work in the UK’s state-run National Health Service (NHS) in 1991, and joined the group which runs the Royal Oldham Hospital in 2004.
