A surgeon who was suspended for sexually and racially harassing junior colleagues is free to work again after the courts rejected a bid to have him struck off. James Gilbert, a high-profile transplant surgeon, was suspended for 12 months in 2024 after a medical practitioners' tribunal found he had harassed multiple junior colleagues at Oxford University Health Foundation Trust.
The General Medical Council (GMC) argued the suspension was insufficient and sought his erasure from the medical register, which would have banned him from practising. However, it failed in its fourth attempt to overturn the decision at the Court of Appeal on 16 January. Mr Gilbert's suspension expired in September 2025, and he is currently registered as working at The Royal Buckinghamshire Hospital.
In April, High Court judge Mr Justice Calver ruled that a 12-month suspension was appropriate, agreeing with the tribunal that erasure would be a “disproportionate” punishment. Dismissing the GMC’s latest appeal, Lady Justice Andrews stated there was no basis for the court to interfere, saying the judge's reasoning was not deficient.
The four NHS workers Mr Gilbert was found to have harassed said in a statement: “James Gilbert was proven to have sexually harassed and assaulted multiple surgeons who trained under his mentorship over a period exceeding a decade. Several incidents occurred during live surgical procedures, placing patient safety directly at risk.” They added that the ruling marks a “deeply troubling moment” for the medical profession.
A GMC spokesperson said: “Our position is very clear – there is no place for sexual misconduct in healthcare, and we have always maintained Dr Gilbert should have been struck off.” Professor Vivien Lees of the Royal College of Surgeons of England called for “significant systemic reform”, noting that the current system “has too often failed targets of misconduct”.
