Reference for doctor in fitness-to-practise case not written by signatory, hearing told

An Irish-trained doctor living in the US has expressed his surprise on finding a fraudulent reference purporting to be written by him was being used in support of job applications in Dublin.

Dr Robert Reynolds was giving evidence in a fitness-to-practise hearing at the Medical Council into Dr Idowu Adeyemi Adeboro's alleged use of falsified documents sent to a recruitment agency.

Dr Adeboro is alleged to have submitted, "or allowed to have submitted" two falsified references to the recruitment agency, Cowley Brown.

One of the references was allegedly written by Dr Reynolds, of the Cancer Institute of Florida.

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However, Dr Reynolds told the inquiry he knew from the moment he saw the reference it was “fraudulent documentation” which he was not involved in creating.

Dr Reynolds graduated from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in 1984 and has spent most of his working career at the Cancer Institute of Florida. He retired in 2017.

The reference furnished by Dr Adeboro to a Dublin recruitment agency was signed by “Dr Robert Reynolds” and dated November 21st, 2017.

Speaking to the inquiry by videolink, Dr Reynolds said he was surprised on being shown a copy of the reference by the Medical Council during its inquiries into Dr Adeboro.

“I did not recognise it. It was not something I had any foreknowledge of and I had no part in generating it.”

“From the first moment, I knew it was a fraudulent documentation.”

He pointed out that the symbol used on the reference for the institute looked more like a “road sign on the highway” than the correct one, while the address bore no relation to that of the institute. The email address used, the title he was given and the signature were all fraudulent, he said.

Asked whether he had ever come across Dr Adeboro, he said he did not recognise the name and had never met him, “as far as I know”.

“I don’t know if he even exists,” he added. “I did not give this person a reference. It should not have been part of his CV. It doesn’t reflect truthfully our cancer institute or my involvement in it.”

“I appreciate your vigilance in seeking the truth, wherever it may lie,” he told the inquiry.

Dr Adeboro, medically trained in Romania and the holder of a Spanish passport, has been suspended by the Medical Council after it emerged the documents he submitted in his registration application were falsely notarised.

It is also alleged he incorporated “or caused to be incorporated” a healthcare clinic with an address on Dublin’s Harcourt Street, which never existed. His CV stated that he had worked for this clinic.

A second reference he submitted to the recruitment agency came from a non-existent doctor at a non-existent medical centre in the UK, it is alleged.

Prof Stephen Lane, a respiratory consultant at Tallaght Hospital, told the inquiry that if the allegations against Dr Adeboro were proven, it would clearly amount to professional misconduct.

Giving evidence as an expert witness, Prof Lane said the allegations, if proven, would clearly put patients at risk and could be considered disgraceful and dishonourable.

The hearing, which Dr Adeboro is not attending, concludes on Monday.