Doctors in Neary case treated ‘unlawfully’

THE Medical Council acted unfairly and unlawfully in finding that two consultant obstetricians were guilty of professional misconduct over reports exonerating the obstetric practice of Dr Micheal Neary at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, the High Court was told yesterday.

There was no evidence on which the council could have based such a finding, Nicholas Butler SC, for Prof Walter Prendiville, said.

While two other doctors had told the council they disagreed with the obstetricians’ findings that there was no evidence of questionable clinical judgment or faulty decision making by Dr Neary in performing a number of Caesarean hysterectomies, those doctors had also emphasised the obstetricians’ reports were prepared in circumstances of great constraint and without all the information later available, he said.

Neither doctor had made any express or implied criticism that could justify a finding of misconduct, Mr Butler said. One of those doctors had told the council he initially believed Dr Neary had “lost his bottle” but later changed his mind in view of the Lourdes Hospital inquiry report of 2006.

Prof Prendiville and Dr John Murphy are challenging the Medical Council’s findings against them. They are claiming unfair procedures, unlawfulness and irrationality in the findings and have raised constitutional and human rights issues.

Prof Prendiville, Dr Murphy and Dr Bernard Stuart of the Coombe Women’s Hospital were asked in 1998 by the Irish Hospital Consultants Association to review the files on a number of Dr Neary’s patients. They later produced reports that effectively exonerated Dr Neary’s practice.

Dr Neary has since been struck off the medical register arising from performing unnecessary Caesarean hysterectomies at the hospital.

Last February, the Medical Council upheld recommendations from its Fitness to Practise Committee that the three obstetricians be found guilty of professional misconduct. However, while the committee recommended that sanctions be imposed on the three obstetricians, the Medical Council decided to impose no sanctions in any of the three cases.

Dr Murphy and Prof Prendiville initiated challenges to the findings last March. Both doctors say their review of Dr Neary’s conduct was carried out under great pressure and in the absence of “the full picture” which eventually emerged.

Prof Prendiville, of South Circular Road, Dublin, was found guilty of one out of 12 allegations — professional misconduct relating to the failure to apply the standard of conduct expected bya medical practitionerwhilst compiling the report.

Dr Murphy, of the Blackrock Clinic and a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist with the National Maternity Hospital, Holles Street, was found guilty of three allegations of professional misconduct. These related to stating that Dr Neary had no case to answer in respect of the casesreviewed and should be allowed to continue working at the hospital without any restrictions on his practice. The committee found such a conclusion could not be legitimately expressed without also expressing some reservation about some or all of the cases reviewed.

Opening the case for Prof Prendiville, Mr Butler said Prof Prendiville had no reason to doubt Dr Neary’s veracity and there was no issue about Dr Neary’s skill. He agreed all three obstetricians had opposed a suspension of Dr Neary in their reports. However, he said, it was wrong to say the report of Prof Prendiville and Dr Stuart did not propose conditions or qualifications in relation to Dr Neary’s practice.