By MARTIN JOHNSTON
A Northland doctor facing a disciplinary hearing for his treatment of a woman now dying of cervical cancer has been investigated twice before by the Medical Council.
Graham Parry, an obstetrician and gynaecologist, goes before the Medical Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal in Paihia next month, charged with disgraceful misconduct in his treatment of Colleen Poutsma.
Dr Parry is still practising at Whangarei Hospital but is under council-ordered supervision.
Since Dr Parry's record was featured on TV3's 20/20 programme on Sunday, a further 20 women have approached the channel to complain about his treatment of them, the show's executive director, Terence Taylor, said yesterday.
In 1997, as Mrs Poutsma's involvement with Dr Parry began, Accident Compensation officials found that he had been involved in a medical error in the treatment of Ruawai maternity patient Christine Marinkovich.
ACC has accepted five women's claims for medical misadventure involving Dr Parry - one an error and four mishaps.
The Medical Council cases are Mrs Poutsma's, Mrs Marinkovich's and a 1995 medical-error referral handled in secret under disciplinary procedures.
Several communities have been knocked by medical scares since 1998, including the under-reporting of cervical smear-test abnormalities in Gisborne.
Six laboratories that perform cervical smear tests elsewhere have also been investigated by the Health Funding Authority but the Gisborne cervical cancer inquiry panel has suppressed their locations.
Mrs Poutsma, aged 48, of Paihia, has been staying in an Auckland hospice and may not survive until the hearing.
She has said that when she was first referred to Dr Parry with suspected cervical cancer, he did not perform an internal examination. Months later he took a biopsy.
She went on to have a hysterectomy, then cancer therapy for a cervical tumour.
Northland Health said yesterday that Dr Parry was not speaking to reporters. His lawyer, Christopher Hodson, QC - who also represents Dr Michael Bottrill, the retired pathologist at the centre of the Gisborne inquiry - said it would be better for Dr Parry not to speak about Mrs Poutsma's case until the tribunal hearing.
Dr Parry delivered Mrs Marinkovich's twin girls by caesarean at Whangarei Hospital on May 3, 1995. Before the birth she had developed severe pre-eclampsia, a potentially fatal condition involving high blood pressure, fluid accumulation and protein in the urine. It was linked to her kidney failure after the birth.
In its medical error finding, ACC criticised Dr Parry for not delivering the twins earlier. It also criticised him and the hospital team for not monitoring Mrs Marinkovich better after the birth, and an anaesthetist for prescribing Voltaren.
Mrs Marinkovich spent several weeks after the birth in hospital on kidney dialysis and went to Auckland for further treatment.
The mother of three, now aged 37, said yesterday that she had recovered from the renal failure but all her pregnancies were now classed high risk and she might want to have another child.
She said the anaesthetist had apologised to her but Dr Parry had not. "In our final mediation he said he had done nothing wrong."
Mrs Marinkovich told the Herald she was speaking out after watching the 20/20 programme because she wanted something done about him.
"I think we've got a stronger case if the disciplinary people realise there's more than just one person involved."
20/20 featured six women, including Mrs Poutsma, alleging inadequate treatment from Dr Parry. Their complaints included a failed sterilisation operation, a punctured bowel, and a suture put in the wrong place during a bladder operation.
The Medical Council said Dr Parry's supervisors were reviewing his care of patients and "updating [his] knowledge."
"The council is confident that with these measures in place current patients will not be at risk."
His cases from the past two years are being reviewed "to ensure no other patients have come to harm."
Council spokeswoman Susan Pattullo said that in Mrs Marinkovich's case the evidence was insufficient to lay disciplinary charges.
Whangarei doctor in string of critical findings
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