A doctor who casually said “yeah, she’s dead” about a woman without examining her should be permanently struck off, her angry family have said.

Maud Fox, 88, who suffered with dementia, was declared dead in 2012 by Dr Rajinder Lotay, who then announced “let’s go back to the office”.

A disciplinary panel heard how the locum had been called to certify the death at Valley View Residential Nursing Home in Rochester, but failed to examine the body.

Dr Lotay then filled out a death certificate and falsely recorded that there was “no respiration or circulation”.

She was also accused of hiding customer feedback forms while working at a surgery in London after receiving several complaints.

She denied the allegations but the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service ruled her fitness to practise was impaired.

They found her guilty of serious misconduct and she was suspended for six months.

"She should have been struck off permanently” - granddaughter Kim Henderson

But Mrs Fox’s granddaughter, Kim Henderson, said it is not long enough.

“Six months seems like a long time, but it’s actually not.

“My concern is what happens after the six months, does she get more training on learning how to deal with people better?

“If she just goes back to work and carries on like normal, I worry who else she will treat like that.

"As a family we are quite upset that we have never had a formal apology from her, or kept updated with what was happening.”

The panel heard that Dr Lotay, an on-call locum with Medway On Call Care, was under stress at the time because she was caring for her long-term partner, who was ill.

Miss Henderson believes this does not excuse her behaviour.

The 39-year-old, of Minster, Sheppey, said: “What worries me is if she can’t even handle confirming a death in the correct manner, what will happen when she is under stress and has to actually treat someone?

"In my opinion, she should have been struck off permanently.”

Widowed Mrs Fox had been living at the home for four months before she died and previously lived in Rochester.

Dr Lotay, who qualified in 1979, claimed she had examined the body for two to three minutes – checking her pulse, checking her respiration and moving her arm and elbow to check for rigor mortis.

But deputy matron Manies Kochelani, who was in Mrs Fox’s room with the GP, said she did not examine the body at all.