A ROAD rage doctor who grabbed a driver and screamed “you do not want to fight me” in a hospital car park is today battling to save his 28-year career. Senior NHS heart doctor Richard Steeds, 56, reached into the man’s car and assaulted him when he was about to use a pedestrian crossing. The […]
A ROAD rage doctor who grabbed a driver and screamed “you do not want to fight me” in a hospital car park is today battling to save his 28-year career.
Senior NHS heart doctor Richard Steeds, 56, reached into the man’s car and assaulted him when he was about to use a pedestrian crossing.
The unnamed driver reported the incident to police who initially said no action would be taken against the consultant cardiologist.
But the victim asked the decision to be reviewed and the Cambridge University-educated doctor subsequently accepted a police caution for assault.
He later blamed his behaviour on being ”overwhelmed by a consistently increasing workload”.
At the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service, Steeds faced being struck off after a disciplinary panel found his fitness to practise medicine had been impaired due to his behaviour.
The incident occurred on September 7, 2018 when the motorist, a member of the public known as Mr A, was driving around the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.
Steeds, a dad-of-three, was about to walk over a pedestrian crossing between two buildings when Mr A unexpectedly stopped in front of him.
I grabbed him around the tie and said ‘You do not want to fight me’
Richard Steeds
The medic was so incensed at his path being blocked he walked around the back of the vehicle and the pair were said to have ”had an exchange of words”.
Steeds, from Walsall, attended a police station voluntarily and accepted a conditional caution for assault and agreed to attend a victim awareness course.
He later referred himself to the General Medical Council and in a statement admitted: ”I reached into his car and I took a hold of him by his collar and tie… I grabbed him around the tie and said ‘You do not want to fight me’.”
At the Manchester hearing Dr Steeds said he has since tried three times to apologise to Mr A for his actions and had since attended an anger management course.
When asked whether he was shocked about his behaviour replied: ”I am ashamed of what I did and I was surprised by his own actions.”
He explained the pressures he was under personally at the time of the event which included a ”consistently increasing workload, a close and supportive colleague leaving the Heath Trust and a substantial number of other commitments which he said meant that his work-life balance had become overwhelmed”.
Further hearings will be held to decide whether Steeds will be sanctioned.
Panel chairman Mr Stuart McLeese said: ”The Tribunal had regard to Dr Steeds’ behaviour and actions since the assault on Mr A. It noted he immediately took responsibility for his actions and contacted the police, of his own volition, on a number of occasions.
“Considering the wider public interest, the Tribunal were satisfied that any member of the public witnessing the incident would be concerned about such behaviour displayed by anybody, but particularly such behaviour by a member of the medical profession.”
The hearing continues.
