Doctor who asked Muslim mum to remove hijab to quit over racism claim

Dr Keith Wolverson, 52, says he asked the muslim mother to remove the veil over her face because he was having difficulty hearing her explain what was wrong with her sick child.

Dr. Keith is now being accused of discriminating against a Muslim mum by asking her to remove her veil and now he is claiming he will quit medicine.

In June, Dr Keith Wolverson, was working at Royal Stoke University Hospital clinic, UK as a GP when he asked the mother to remove her niqab – a veil worn by some Muslim women that covers their face apart from the eyes. He said he asked her to do so when he, the mother, and her daughter were in the privacy of the hospital consulting room, as he had difficulty hearing the mum explain her daughter’s symptoms.

She willingly agreed to the doctor’s request, he added. However, after the woman’s husband arrived an hour later, she complained to hospital staff about the exchange.

The pair later wrote to the General Medical Council (GMC) to lodge a formal complaint.

Dr Wolverson received a letter last week from the GMC informing him that he would be subject to an inquiry over the couple’s allegations of racial discrimination.

This probe could make him as a result loses his place in the medical register, even though he has had no bad record throughout his 23 year long career.

The Daily Mail reports that Dr Wolverson will step down regardless of the outcome of the investigation.

“I feel a major injustice has taken place. I absolutely no longer want to be a doctor.”

“This country will have no doctors left if we continue to treat them in this manner. I’m deeply upset.

“A doctor’s quest to perform the very finest consultation for the safety of the patient has been misinterpreted in a duplicitous manner to suggest there has been an act of racism committed.”

The GP has insisted he was just trying to do his job properly during the consultation in question.

He said he “found it difficult to understand what the woman was saying behind her veil” and politely asked her to remove it as he “needed to hear what was wrong”.

The doctor also insisted he is not racist and the incident is “nothing to do with race, religion or skin colour”.

The furious GP said he has treated many Muslim patients and never had a problem when he “asked women to remove their veil”.

According to the complaints received by GMC, the mother said she felt “victimised and racially discriminated” against during the consultation.