A PATHOLOGIST yesterday admitted wrongly claiming that a man killed by a blow to the head was in fact the victim of a sudden stroke.
Heavy drinker Frankie Williams, who was 42, had 16 cuts and bruises to his head and face when he was found dead at his home in Birkenhead, Merseyside, in May 1999.
A General Medical Council serious professional misconduct hearing in Manchester heard the bruises probably came from a drunken fall or fight.
But Dr Martin Gillett, who carried out a post-mortem examination for the Wirral coroner, failed to notice the bruising, and said Mr Williams had suffered a fatal stroke.
A second post-mortem was carried out six days later when Mr Williams' family saw the bruises as they paid their final respects.
His funeral was postponed and a Home Office pathologist carried out a more extensive examination and saw the bruises, one of which measured nine centimetres by six centimetres.
The Home Office pathologist strongly disagreed with Dr Gillett's conclusion of a stroke, recording instead he suffered a brain haemorrhage caused by blunt trauma to the head.
Mr Williams had had a fall 10 days before his death and had been involved in a fight the day before his death, although Dr Gillett was unaware of these incidents.
Dr Gillett later changed his conclusion to agree with the second post-mortem, when he knew the dead man's full history.
Barrister Ian Stern, for the GMC, said: "The complaint is not that Dr Gillett failed to provide a solution as to what happened to Mr Williams. Quite frankly one is almost speechless as to how these bruises were missed when you look at the size of the bruises.
"The complaint is in relation to him totally failing to determine that the subdural haematoma caused the death and that it was caused by blunt trauma."
Dr Gillett, 55, of West Kirby, Wirral, admits failing to observe the cuts and bruises and making an "unreasonable" conclusion that Mr Williams was killed by a stroke.
In a letter of explanation to the GMC, Dr Gillett said it was difficult to recall whether he saw the bruises and dismissed them as minor or did not see them at all.
He pointed out that his examinations tended not to focus on cuts and bruises unless the death had occurred in suspicious circumstances.
Dr Gillett denies failing to provide the Home Office pathologist with sufficient detail about his initial post mortem. He denies the circumstances amount to professional misconduct.
Professor Derrick Pounder, an expert in forensic medicine, said Dr Gillett should have noticed the bruising on Mr Williams's face, and should have known that death was caused by a blow to the head.
He said: "I would say that a lay person would recognise the marks as injuries and a doctor most certainly should recognise them as injuries.
"Dr Gillett should at least have noted that there were scattered abrasions about the face ..I would have expected him to recognise that the cause of death was a subdural haematoma."
The hearing continues today, when Dr Gillett is expected to give evidence.
