Doctor faces charges of performing an inadequate assessment

A DAUGHTER lost out on a £100,000 inheritance after a top GP inappropriately changed her father's power of attorney just months before his death, a hearing was told.

Dr Nizar Merali, 57, of Wolsey Road, Northwood, claimed former colleague Dr Kantilal Parmar was of 'sound mind' when he had suffered alcohol-related brain damage and was unable to talk, it was said.

Dr Parmar scored zero out of ten on tests to assess his mental capacity after falling ill while in India in February 2005, the General Medical Council heard.

The GP was not expected to recover from the severe brain damage caused by alcohol withdrawal.

But while assessing the doctor's ability to understand and sign a power of attorney in August 2005, Merali rated him an eight out of ten.

His grieving wife Vasanti then withdrew her stepdaughter Kendal Parmar's £100,000 inheritance bond from Abbey National without telling her, it was said.

She later told her she was 'not entitled to anything' in his will, it is claimed.

Dr Parmar died just a few months later at the age of 77 in July 2006.

Mother of four, Miss Parmar, told the GMC of the moment she learned that she had lost out on the £100,000 inheritance.

She said: "I was absolutely shocked, first of all that I didn't know anything about it and that this had been done without my knowledge, and secondly that a doctor would have said that my father was OK in time, place and person."

Merali, currently a senior partner of GP Direct, the largest practice in Harrow, faces eight charges relating to his assessment of Dr Parmar in 2005.

He has admitted carrying out an assessment but denies claims he performed an 'inadequate and inappropriate' mental capacity test on the doctor.

He also denies his actions were 'dishonest' and 'below the standard expected of a medical practitioner.'

The hearing is expected to finish on August 28.