“Chips, Chips, and More Chips”: Paramedic Struck Off After Mocking Overweight Patient with Offensive Call

A paramedic has been removed from the medical register for making fun of an overweight patient by telling her that she liked eating "chips, chips and more chips.” The offensive comments were made during a phone consultation in July 2020 by Matthew Goodey, an emergency care practitioner at a GP’s office in Eye, Suffolk.

He was found to have bullied the woman, referred only as Service User F, and other patients by the Health and Care Professions Tribunal Service. According to GB News, the woman had called the surgery during the conversation to ask for advice regarding issues with her foot and leg.

Goodey asked the woman about her weight and made a number of inappropriate remarks instead of immediately addressing her health issues. He called her a "big girl" and said, "I bet you were always told to finish your plate."

Additionally, the paramedic recommended that someone use a sack barrow to move her. He said to the patient during the consultation, "You don't want to be sitting there in a chair with your feet up, eating chips, chips and more chips."

Goodey admitted to the tribunal that he had said these things to the woman. The next day, the woman filed an official complaint about the surgery. She explained that she was depressed and that Goodey's comments had made it difficult for her to focus for the rest of the medical consultation.

A few months later, in November 2020, a different patient filed a second complaint about his behavior. Due to a different issue, Goodey was suspended by March 2023 and later fired.

The tribunal panel confirmed that the accusations made against him in relation to Service User F had been proven, and Goodey had admitted the truth of the accusations regarding his remarks about her weight.

Goodey's remarks were considered "on their face, inappropriate and offensive" by the tribunal panel. Additionally, they claimed that they were completely inappropriate in the setting of a clinical consultation between a patient and a medical professional.

They decided that Goodey’s approach to the matter with Service User F was inappropriate. The panel did agree that when a patient seeks treatment for foot and leg pain, talking about weight control may be clinically acceptable.

But because of how he handled the situation, he had to be taken off the medical registry. The panel also concluded that the paramedic had acted improperly when interacting with patients other than Service User F.