Transgender doctor denies wanting to 'punish' nurse
BBCA transgender doctor has denied seeking to "punish" a colleague who complained about having to share female changing facilities at a hospital in Fife.
Lawyers accused Dr Beth Upton of doing "your very best to end Sandie Peggie's career" by telling a "pack of lies" with an allegation the nurse did not help treat a patient in a resuscitation room due to Dr Upton being present.
Ms Peggie's legal team said it was "inexplicable" Dr Upton did not report the incident immediately, and that it only emerged after the doctor and nurse had a row on Christmas Eve 2023.
Regarding the earlier incident, Dr Upton told an employment tribunal in Dundee: "I was still hoping this was a misunderstanding."
Lawyer Naomi Cunningham argued the alleged resuscitation room incident, said to have taken place in October 2023, was far more serious than the Christmas Eve argument, and suggested it had been made up.
She accused Dr Upton of seeking to end the nurse's career due to the changing room incident.
Dr Upton responded: "It's not about punishing her. She harassed me, I'm not interested in punishment, I'm not interested in vengeance and I'm not interested in retribution– I'm interested in justice."
Nurse Sandie Peggie, took the Fife Health Board and Dr Upton to tribunal after being suspended following the changing room incident on Christmas Eve 2023
Ms Peggie had called the doctor a man and said she felt "intimidated" by the doctor using the same facilities.
PA MediaThe timeline of email exchanges between Doctor Upton and superiors investigating incidents involving Sandie Peggie featured heavily in the evidence session.
Ms Peggie's legal team asked Dr Upton why a report sent to senior staff at the hospital titled "hate incident" had not mentioned previous incidents.
Dr Upton said this was because investigating staff had only asked for details of the Christmas Eve argument in the changing rooms.
Ms Cunningham said the incident in the resuscitation room would be "the most important" aspect to complain about, and questioned why it had taken until after the Christmas Eve confrontation for it to be reported.
She said: "The reason for the delay in sending the email entitled hate incident is that you were urgently taking advice from the BMA about one or two things.
"Those things were the regulatory risk for you in raising such a serious professional complaint for the first time only months after the incident, and possibly also the regulatory and disciplinary risk for you in making up a potentially career ending allegation about a colleague that had no substance or foundation?"
Dr Upton replied: "No, that's not why it took so long. I'm not in the business of making false allegations about a colleague."
The doctor added: "At the time I was thinking of it purely as a communication issue. Now I would consider it a patient safety issue. If it was I should have raised it sooner."
PA MediaDr Upton later contacted the British Medical Association and line managers at the hospital regarding the Christmas Eve incident.
When asked if Dr Upton had considered taking it to the police, the doctor replied: "I didn't want to get into a labyrinthine process."
Ms Cunningham also claimed Dr Upton sought a "climate of control over language" used about gender, and that staff at the hospital in Kirkcaldy had a "fear of adverse consequences mixed with fear of hurting your feelings".
Dr Upton said this was not the case.
Dr Upton said the three days of cross-examination felt "horrendous" due to language used by Ms Peggie's legal team.
The doctor said: "Trans people are not predators by nature of being themselves."
The hearing continues.