Struck off GP's appeal dismissed

A former South Auckland GP, struck off for prescribing excessive amounts of a drug used to make methamphetamine, has had an application to be reinstated denied.

Rhys Cullen was removed from the medical register after the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal last year found he had prescribed 46,000 Sudomyl tablets over a period of two years and collected prescriptions written for patients without their knowledge.

The High Court upheld the tribunal's decision saying his behaviour amounted to professional misconduct but said the tribunal should not have ruled on whether his actions had been for an "illegal purpose", New Zealand Doctor magazine reported.

- NZPA