Devout Christian doctor convicted of punching a dementia patient

Devout Christian doctor convicted of punching a dementia patient

A devout Christian doctor has been convicted of punching a dementia patient who made a racist comment towards him during a medical consultation.

Consultant physician Dr Xowi Mwimbi, 68, punched the patient who has complex health needs in the left temple and pushed his head into a pillow after he told him to leave his hospital room.

Staff at Blackpool Victoria Hospital, in Lancashire had urged Mwimbi to stand back warning him that the patient would get severely distressed if anyone got to close to him.

But the doctor who is a church elder at the Altrincham Seventh-day Adventist Church, in Greater Manchester and trustee of a charity which tackles poverty in Africa ignored their pleas and attacked the unnamed man.

During the ensuing scuffle the patient who has limited movement due to his condition instinctively swung his arm towards Mwimbi but barely made contact.

The doctor then reacted by punching the dementia patient in his left temple and pressing his head into the pillow.

Care staff who were present quickly intervened and reported the assault.

The patient had a care plan in place for his complex needs which included an instruction not to get too close to him as it caused him distress.

He was also known to make racial comments due to his mental condition.

In a police interview Dr Mwimbi from Wythenshawe, Manchester who was working as a locum at the hospital said the patient had hit him and racially abused him so he had acted in ‘self-defence’.

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He said he was ‘surprised and shocked’ to hear the care staff present were ‘telling stories about him’ and claimed their version of events was ‘all a figment of their imagination’.

But at Preston Crown Court, Mwimbi who qualified in Zambia in 1986 was convicted of ill treatment by a care worker following a trial after jurors rejected his self defence plea.

He will be sentenced in May and he now faces an investigation by the General Medical Council which could lead to him being struck off.

The maximum sentence for an offence of ill treatment by a care worker is five years in jail.

Prosecutors said the incident would not have arisen if Mwimbi had followed the care plan and that the patient scarcely made contact with the doctor due to his lack of mobility.

After the case Miss Sazeeda Ismail, Senior Crown Prosecutor for CPS North West said: ‘Dr Xowi Mwimbi demonstrated a gross breach of his duty of care, when in anger he used excessive force against an extremely vulnerable man.

‘His actions traumatised those who witnessed the incident. I would like to thank those witnesses for their quick action in intervening and reporting what they had seen.

‘It is thanks to them that we have been able to bring Dr Mwimbi to justice for his despicable actions.’

The 767 bed hospital has already been at the centre of a four year police investigation into a ‘culture of abuse’ by staff towards patients on the stroke unit.

The probe began after a student ‘whistle-blower’ went to the authorities after being shocked by comments made by a senior nurse.

She also said she had been told to sedate a difficult patient with prescribed drugs which hadn’t been prescribed.

Several members of staff have been convicted of offences relating to the theft of drugs, ill treatment of patients and sexual harassment.

Last December a nurse and a healthcare worker were jailed for ill treatment after a court heard patients were sedated for an ‘easy shift’ and ‘amusement’.

Detectives are still investigating the suspicious death of Valerie Neale, 75, who bled to death on the ward in November 2018 after suffering what officers believe was a sex attack.

A murder investigation was launched after a post-mortem examination found that she had died following a haemorrhage caused by a ‘non-medical related internal injury’.

A £20,000 reward has been offered for information leading to to the conviction of the killer but no-one has been brought to justice.

An inquest into her death us due to take place in May.

Devout Christian doctor convicted of punching a dementia patient

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