GP says sorry for naming two Labtests staff

An Auckland GP has apologised for publicly naming two Labtests pathologists over alleged failings in the diagnosis of melanoma in a 64-year-old man.

"I very much regret that," Dr Carmel Built said yesterday.

Her apology came after she met Labtests chief executive Craig Marshall, who had on Thursday demanded the meeting in a letter, which spelled out her breach of medical protocol.

The Medical Council and the Medical Association also criticised Dr Built for naming the pathologists.

Even so, Dr Built stands by her version of the case's facts, detailed in her letter on Wednesday, to 19 recipients including the Herald, other media, Labtests, Health Minister Tony Ryall, district health board chiefs and Health and Disability Commissioner Ron Paterson.

She highlighted the case to press her demand for more of Labtests' community laboratory testing to be given back to its competitor, Diagnostic Medlab.

She said the patient, who had a history of melanoma, had tissue tested at Labtests last month, after he felt a lump and a scan had indicated an abnormality. Labtests initially reported no evidence of cancer, but a second check, sought by the man's surgeon, found cancer.

The tissue was sent to DML, at the man's request, and a greater degree of cancer was found.

This version was corroborated to the Herald by the patient and his surgeon, who said the first Labtests result was "not the standard that we would expect".

Dr Marshall demanded Dr Built apologise for making her allegations "in such an inappropriate way".

He said she should have approached the pathologists and the Medical Council, or the commissioner, rather than publicly accusing the pathologists.

"We can discuss these issues further with you, but suffice to say they have and will be examined by competent and independent bodies, rather than debated in public."

Health authorities usually name doctors found to have made mistakes only after extensive investigations lead to a guilty finding on professional misconduct charges.

Medical Council chairman Professor John Campbell said routinely naming doctors in public for mistakes undermined the openness, discussion and learning from mishaps that the health sector wanted to encourage.