Doctor appealing against misconduct ruling now faces cross-appeal by Medical Council

The appeal is scheduled for October. Photo / File

A doctor found guilty of performing unjustified breast examinations on patients is being taken to court by the Medical Council in a bid to get him suspended.

The Wellington region doctor was found guilty by the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal in November 2019, but is now appealing.

It found he had conducted unjustified clinical breast examinations, with complaints spanning from 2011 to 2017.

Included in the charge was the doctor's failure to record some breast examinations, asking a woman whether she knew she was very attractive and commenting "for your age, they're [breasts] quite full" or words to that effect.

He's appealing against both the Tribunal's decision and penalties, meaning he can continue to work with his name secret until the hearing in October.

Those penalties include a $5000 fine, the need for a chaperone during future breast examinations at his cost, as well as the $160,000 in costs that he was ordered to pay.

He is also fighting to keep his name suppressed.

But documents obtained exclusively by the Herald show the doctor is now facing a cross-appeal from the Medical Council's lawyers, with the aim to get him suspended for a year.

Professional Conduct Committee (PCC) lawyer Anita Miller submitted the document to the High Court at Wellington, stating they were cross-appealing against the Tribunal's decision not to suspend the doctor.

Court documents show six reasons as to why the PCC believe the Tribunal was wrong in not imposing a period of suspension.

These include what the PCC said was "inadequate weight" given to the doctor's demonstrated continued lack of insight into his misconduct during the disciplinary process.

The PCC argued a period of suspension is necessary to protect the public by maintaining professional standards in the medical profession.

'You know that you're very attractive don't you?'

Eight women testified against the doctor, including one who said he told her that she had good-looking breasts.

Also Included in the charge was not offering a chaperone when conducting breast exams, raising breast health when not clinically justified and failing to record some breast examinations.

At the time, the Tribunal also found he continued to bring up the topic of breast health despite committing to "utterly avoid" it in a written undertaking to the health centre.

It took two weeks to come to the decision, with many emotional testimonies from complainants, nurses at the practice, and even the man's wife.