DHB board member who questioned another's integrity suspended

Dr Suresh Vatsyayann. Photo / Greg Bowker

Waikato District Health Board (DHB) board member Dr Suresh Vatsyayann has been suspended from the board for questioning the integrity of his fellow board members and DHB management.

Chairman Graeme Milne said today he asked Dr Vatsyayann to withdraw the comments made in an email and apologise to the board and management.

Dr Vatsyayann failed to respond to the request and has been suspended until an appropriate apology is received.

"The DHB is a billion dollar organisation with more than 5800 staff and it is responsible for the health and wellbeing of more than 360,000 people," Dr Milne said.

"Those people, the DHB staff, management and board members deserve to have board members with the highest professional and ethical standards.

"Dr Vatsyayann's behaviour was well below those standards."

Dr Vatsyayann, a Hamilton GP, is an elected member of the Waikato DHB board.

NZ Doctor magazine reported today that his second attempt to appeal a Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal decision had failed.

Dr Vatstyayann tried to appeal the tribunal's finding of professional misconduct, following a hearing in 2008, in the High Court earlier this year, the magazine said.

In a written decision, released in August, Justice Simon France said the tribunal had rightly found Dr Vatsyayann guilty and thought the fine ($5000) and costs handed down lenient.

Dr Vatsyayann sought leave to appeal Justice France's ruling, however this was denied, again in a written decision, last week.

The tribunal hearing was prompted by complaints from patients whose recollections of consultations in 2007 with Dr Vatsyayann were at odds with their clinical notes.

The particulars of the charge asserted Dr Vatsyayann had produced false and/or misleading notes.

Dr Vatsyayann's lawyer Harry Waalkens QC said his client was considering going to the Court of Appeal.

- NZPA