KEY POINTS:
Christchurch doctor Jacques Renard Marchand, who made false medical claims totalling $30,497 to Pegasus Health, has been given eight months home detention.
Christchurch District Court Judge Colin Doherty today lifted name suppression for Marchand.
He said Marchand had committed white collar crime, which was difficult to detect, with fictitious claims over four years for General Medical Services payments.
The claims included failed appointments, prescriptions that were inappropriate, nurse-only consultations, flu vaccinations, and consultations when he was not at the practice.
Counsel for 45-year-old Marchand, Chris Hodson, QC, said the Medical Council was up to speed with the situation, and the doctor was aware of the likely professional consequences of his convictions.
Marchand pleaded guilty near the end of the crown case during a jury trial in October, when the crown offered four representative charges of dishonestly using claim forms, instead of 81 individual charges involved in the trial. The prosecution involved claims from 2001 to 2004.
Mr Hodson said Marchand's judgment had been affected by head injuries in 1999 and 2004. Within the limitations of his self-awareness, his understanding and his abilities, he had expressed remorse.
It would be harsh if his handicapped condition was held against him, Mr Hodson said.
He had been overseen from a medical and practice point of view.
Crown prosecutor Tim Mackenzie pointed to a sense of entitlement coming through in the pre-sentence reports. The crown opposed continuing name suppression.
"The victims are the public of New Zealand. They are entitled to know who defrauded them," he said.
Judge Doherty said he was willing in the circumstances to accept that Marchand was remorseful, though he had struggled to see evidence of it.
He noted that Marchand had repaid all the money he falsely claimed.
He imposed eight months home detention at Marchand's home in Tai Tapu, 16km south west of Christchurch, and refused the application for final name suppression.
Marchand will only be able to work at approved employment, and it may not be medical work.
Others, including employees at the practice, might be affected by the lifting of suppression. But Judge Doherty noted there had never been any suggestion that anyone else had been involved in Marchand's offending.
- NZPA
