IVF Expert Faces Jail Threat for No Licence
By REBECCA SMITH
BRITAIN’S most successful fertility doctor faces being struck off and jailed, the Standard can reveal.
Mohamed Taranissi, 52, who is worth Pounds 38million, is being investigated for operating without a licence and is due to appear before a disciplinary hearing at the General Medical Council over claims of clinical misconduct.
A nephew of Harrods owner Mohamed Fayed, Mr Taranissi runs the Assisted Reproduction and Gynaecology Centre in Wimpole Street and the Reproductive Genetics Institute in Weymouth Street.
Police and fertility watchdog inspectors raided the clinics after allegations were made by an insider.
It has emerged that the RGI has never been registered with the Healthcare Commission as clinical premises.
This means any treatment carried out on patients there would be illegal.
Figures from watchdog the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority show hundreds of treatments have been carried out there.
BBC documentary A Child Against All Odds allegedly showed one woman having embryos transferred into her womb there.
Lawyers said today that this appeared to breach section 11 of the Care Standards Act, which carries a maximum sentence of six months in prison or a fine of Pounds 5,000. The Commission is investigating.
A spokeswoman said: “If Dr Taranissi is actually seeing or treating patients at RGI that would be unlawful. If he is just doing technical work around manipulation of eggs or sperm in the lab that is not.”
Leading IVF lawyer Muiris Lyons said: “This is not just about paperwork, it is about ensuring patient safety and standards of healthcare.”
On Monday, Panorama showed an undercover reporter allegedly being offered unnecessary and experimental treatment at the other clinic.
The HFEA is looking into discrepancies at the centre as well as whether the RGI had a licence for treatment. If found guilty of breaching the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act, Mr Taranissi could face up to two years in jail, or a fine or both.
His patients are concerned that their courses of treatment may be stopped and some are trying to organise a picket outside the HFEA.
After the Panorama broadcast, Mr Taranissi said: “I devoted my life to babies but now I am being vilified.
We are just trying to help people.”
. Private treatment centres are failing to provide evidence on the quality of care they give NHS patients, according to a Healthcare Commission study.
It said data obtained from centres was “extremely poor”, even though they are contractually obliged to provide it.
(c) 2007 Evening Standard; London (UK). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.