The High Court stepped in to quash a tribunal’s decision allowing Dr Ali Shokouh-Amiri to keep his medical licence after removing two women’s ovaries without consent, ruling that the initial panel made clear errors of fact and failed to weigh the evidence properly.
As of 12 October 2026, the General Medical Council has placed strict interim conditions on Dr Ali Shokouh-Amiri, a consultant gynaecologist at Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, barring him from seeing female patients without a chaperone present.
This regulatory intervention follows an August 2026 High Court ruling by Mr Justice Morris at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, which overturned key parts of a February 2025 Medical Practitioners Tribunal decision that had allowed the doctor to continue practising unrestricted for misconduct dating back to his time as Head of Gynaecological Oncology at Guernsey’s Princess Elizabeth Hospital between 2016 and 2019.
During his initial tribunal, 24 allegations of misconduct across six patients were proven, including Dr Shokouh-Amiri admitting to removing the ovaries of two women without their consent—one without clinical justification—alongside findings that he hugged, kissed, and inappropriately touched patients, and repeatedly performed intimate examinations without a chaperone.
Despite these proven findings, the original 2025 tribunal issued only a formal warning, deciding that his fitness to practise was not impaired because he had shown insight into his failures.
That decision sparked a public petition of over 20,000 signatures calling for his removal from the NHS and prompted a formal legal challenge by the General Medical Council.
In judgment EWHC 2226 (Admin), Mr Justice Morris ruled that the original tribunal made clear errors of fact and failed to consider vital evidence concerning Patient B and Patient F, meaning that while Dr Shokouh-Amiri awaits a newly convened tribunal to reassess his fitness to practise, Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust Chief Medical Officer Dr Christine Blanshard has confirmed he is currently removed from any patient-facing role despite remaining employed at Southend Hospital.
Good medical practice requires a practitioner to offer a chaperone to a patient before conducting an intimate examination.
Although Dr Ali Shokouh-Amiri remains employed by the Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust at Southend Hospital, the trust’s Chief Medical Officer has confirmed that he has been completely removed from all patient-facing roles.
This tension between protecting a professional’s career and upholding public safety is central to the High Court’s intervention, as Mr Justice Morris’s ruling effectively declared that the original tribunal failed to properly balance patient safety and public trust against the doctor’s career interests.
Public comments and outrage surrounding the case overwhelmingly express shock and anger, with many stating that allowing a doctor to continue practising after performing non-consensual surgeries destroys patient trust and compromises women’s safety within the healthcare system.
