A DOCTOR who sentenced a Hampshire father to death when he failed to spot a lethal infection is fighting to be allowed to practise again.

Dr Amit Misra, pictured, 37, was suspended for a year after failing to act when Sean Phillips, 31, fell ill after a routine knee operation at Southampton General Hospital.

Misra was convicted of manslaughter at Winchester Crown Court on April 11, 2003 and given an 18-month suspended prison sentence.

The General Medical Council heard Mr Phillips was expected to leave the day after an operation in June 2000 but caught a bacterial infection and developed toxic shock syndrome. He died three days later after doctors failed to spot the infection.

Misra was convicted of manslaughter through gross negligence after it was found he failed to monitor Mr Phillips' abnormal temperature and pulse.

The trainee surgeon was banned from working in the UK altogether in November 2005. Last year the GMC refused to allow Misra back on the register, ruling his fitness to practice was still impaired after he was ordered to undergo a performance assessment and it was found he could not carry out some of the most basic surgical techniques.

His former colleague, Rajeev Srivastava, 40, of Invergowrie, Dundee, was also convicted of manslaughter but was suspended for just six months.

The panel will later decide if Misra, who qualified in Delhi in 1992, should be allowed to work in the UK again.