A family GP who faced career ruin after she stole Botox products worth £1,600 from a cosmetic clinic has escaped being struck off.
Dr Nimrit Dhillon, 35, was caught on CCTV repeatedly helping herself to boxes of Belotero Intense and Bocouture botox from a store room.
Footage showed Dhillon who calls herself ‘Dr Nim’ checking the coast was clear before she loaded the goods into her handbag and she was later reported to police by horrified colleagues.
When she realised she had been caught, Dhillon, of Mansfield, Nottingham, sent texts to the clinic’s founder begging her not to alert the General Medical Council.
One text read: ‘Please my GMC I can’t be struck off please I can’t risk my GMC please I beg you.’
The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service in Manchester was told the thefts took place at an unnamed clinic in Liverpool when Dhillon was delivering training to healthcare professionals on how to administer Botox and facial fillers as well as providing these treatments to patients.
Police were called in after three separate raids on a storeroom between May 23 and June 8 last year.
Dhillon was found guilty of misconduct charges and was suspended from practice for eight months.
A disciplinary panel said it would be ‘disproportionate’ to erase her name from the medical register after hearing of undisclosed personal issues.
At an earlier hearing before Liverpool JPs, She was ordered to complete 200 hours unpaid work and a 12 month community and pay £1,450 after she admitted theft by employee.
She insisted she had not stolen the products for her own cosmetic surgery business despite a probation officer who spoke to her about the raids concluding: ‘It appears these offences were committed against a background of poor consequential thinking and financial motivation.’
In the first theft Dhillon stole one box of Belotero Intense and three 100-unit boxes of Bocouture botox worth £450, whilst in the second she plundered three 100-unit boxes of Bocouture botox, one box of 50-units of Bocouture, one box of Belotero Balance and one box of Belotero Volume to the value of £700.
In the third raid she looted four 100-unit boxes of Bocouture worth £450.
For the GMC Ms Jade Bucklow said: ‘The offences represented a significant breach of trust committed against a fellow medical professional, as the victim in this case was a nurse who had placed a high degree of trust in Dr Dhillon in their working relationship.
‘It was clear Dr Dhillon had caused distress not only to the victim but to other employees, who were questioned when the stock was discovered to be missing, as suspicion did not immediately land on Dr Dhillon perhaps because of the fact that she is a doctor and that honesty and integrity is expected of medical professionals.
‘The ill judged texts Dr Dhillon sent to the victim ‘begging’ her not to report the matter would have compounded the stress and anxiety caused by Dr Dhillon’s actions. There was clear personal gain resulting from the offending which was repeated and had an element of premeditation.
‘Dr Dhillon took her bag into a store cupboard where she would not normally have a reason to, which suggested a degree of planning and that this was not a spur of the moment decision.’
The hearing was told all the stolen product was found at Dhillon’s home and none had been used.
When quizzed by police she said: ‘I don’t know why I did what I did – but I was going through a lot’.
A letter she pushed through the door of the clinic read: ‘I really don’t know what I can even say or where to even begin in expressing my extreme sadness.
‘I know words are not enough right now, but it is all I have. I am so incredibly truly deeply sorry.’
In a statement, the clinic’s owner who set up the business after being made redundant from her nursing job by the NHS said Dhillon appeared ‘ethically to be a great fit for our team.’
She added: ‘It really hurt when we found out she stealing. The thefts caused animosity among our small team and created a terrible atmosphere with stocktakes taking place and deliveries having to be checked.
‘My business partner had a near breakdown and the decision to report the thefts was ‘the most stressful we have experienced.’
Defence counsel Ms Catherine Stock said: ‘Dr Dhillon has always maintained there was no financial motive to the thefts and that she intended to put the items back.
‘She has spent a lot of time and money figuring out why she committed the offences.
‘Dr Dhillon previously had an unblemished career, and this behaviour was out of character. She had a level of remorse and apologised straightaway. The immediate text on the day was sent in a high level of anxiety.’
In a reflective statement, Dhillon herself said: ‘These boxes of product were just sitting there – I didn’t need them and I wasn’t even thinking financially, It just was something there that I could control and focus on rather than actually focusing on what was happening in my life.
‘But I understand the impact that taking the product had on my colleagues, my patients, and my reputation as a doctor.
‘I understand not only the financial loss but also their loss of trust.
‘I had worked to develop a strong relationship with them over the previous two years, and I completely jeopardised this when I acted as I did.
‘I also understand the impact this had on my colleagues who were also working at the clinic at the same time.
‘I understand that as a doctor, we are held with high regard in the public eye, and we have a duty to uphold the highest standards of ethics and care for our patients.
‘I feel remorse every day knowing that my actions call that into question, that I have risked this, not only for my own career but for the wider profession as a whole.’
MPTS panel chairman Mrs Claire Lindley said: ‘The Tribunal decided it would be speculation to assume Dr Dhillon had any financial hardship, she has gained insight as to the impact on others, and the root causes of her offending and there were early expressions of regret and apology.
‘While there is still some way to go before she has fully remediated her actions, it is unlikely that the behaviour will be repeated.
‘Erasure would be disproportionate in this case, especially bearing in mind Dr Dhillon’s personal circumstances.’