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A pharmacist found guilty of fiddling his prescription fees is to start a nine months' suspension from practice on February 1, following an unsuccessful appeal to the High Court.
Mark Robert Winefield pleaded guilty in Timaru District Court in July 2005 to 22 charges covering 898 fraudulent claims against HealthPac, a former division of the Ministry of Health, totalling $10,865 in undue fees and subsidies.
Winefield, who repaid the money, was ordered to pay $20,000 in court costs and to do 200 hours' community service.
In March last year he was suspended from practice for nine months by the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal, censured and ordered to pay nearly $11,000 costs.
Winefield's appeal against suspension and costs was dismissed by Justice Denis Clifford in the High Court at Auckland just before Christmas.
But the judge ruled that Winefield, who had undertaken to do locum work in the Wellington area over the Christmas break, should not begin his suspension until February 1.
Winefield argued that the suspension and costs were excessive and that the tribunal had not taken proper account of mitigating factors, including the fact that he had been motivated by the needs of his patients, not personal gain.
It was claimed that he simply wanted to "get better treatment" for his patients.
Much of the offending related to Winefield claiming to have dispensed the subsidised Rubifen, when in fact he had dispensed the non-subsidised Ritalin.
Winefield's lawyer said that the ministry recently acknowledged that substitution of Ritalin by Rubifen could have adverse consequences for users.
Justice Clifford said, to that extent, Winefield's concern and motivations could be said to have been confirmed.
There was a "clear element of concern for his patients" that had been taken into account both by the district court and the disciplinary tribunal.
But the judge added that the matters that brought him before those two bodies related to fraudulent behaviour designed to obtain financial benefits for himself.
"At the end of the day, it is that conduct which resulted in his conviction in the district court, and the penalty imposed on him by the tribunal."
The court heard that Winefield had suffered financial losses of $94,000.
His lawyer said that did not include the forced sale of his Timaru business at a considerable loss.
Winefield has since relocated to the Wellington area
- NZPA
