Biopolis is recruiting international experts, who will watch this case with interest.AP Photo/Wong Maye-e

A British court has cleared the way for a prominent English epilepsy expert to return to research, after a protracted international dispute over studies four years ago in Singapore.

On 21 December, the British High Court ruled that British authorities acted appropriately when they dropped an investigation of improprietries against neurologist Simon Shorvon, now a professor at University College London.

The ruling is a setback for the Singapore Medical Council (SMC), which had pursued its case against Shorvon, whom it had found guilty of professional misconduct, across international borders.

Last year the British General Medical Council (GMC) decided to drop their own inquiries into Shorvon, having found no grounds for action. This decision was not received well by the SMC, which, in an unprecedented move, filed a case in the High Court of Justice in London. It claimed that the GMC’s decision was unsustainable and breached a duty of fairness to the SMC in not having consulted it properly.

The High Court has now dismissed this claim, saying the British medical council’s decision was rational and sustainable.

“This judgement removes an unjustified slur on my reputation,” reads a statement from Shorvon, who is now a professor and subdean at the Institute of Clinical Neurology at University College London, UK. “I am delighted.”

“I hope now that I can be left in peace to pursue my research,” he adds. He has not been able to apply for grants during the legal fight.

Medical councils rarely pursue physicians beyond the borders of their own country with such aggression. The case will likely be watched with interest by others in the field, as Singapore is actively recruiting leading international researchers for its Biopolis complex, a futuristic centrepiece of biomedical research.

A spokeswoman for the Singapore Medical Council would only say that the judgement was under study. An appeal is possible.

Head hunted

Shorvon was recruited in 2000 from University College London to direct Singapore’s National Neuroscience Institute. But shortly thereafter, he became embroiled in conflict.

He was accused by Singapore officials of obtaining neurological information on 13 patients without consent, recruiting them for his research without proper consent, and changing their medication levels without proper consent. He was dismissed in 2003 by the Institute. Neuroscientist Lee Wei Ling, the daughter of former prime minister of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew, replaced Shorvon as the institute’s director.

The SMC found Shorvon guilty of professional misconduct in 2004, after he had returned to the United Kingdom. He was fined and removed from the register of medical practitioners in Singapore.

Shorvon has denied emphatically any impropriety. He declined to be interviewed this week.

The British General Medical Council became aware of the situation in 2004 and Shorvon, by then in London, sought a UK review to help to clear his name. In 2005, it determined the allegations in Singapore could not be proved beyond a reasonable doubt and halted its inquiry.

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