Medical Council press release was spin, says judge

A PRESS release from the Medical Council which stated that two consultant obstetricians had been found guilty of professional misconduct over reports opposing the immediate suspension of obstetrician Dr Micheal Neary, but failed to say the council had decided to impose no sanction against the doctors seemed to be “spin of the worst type”, a High Court judge has said.

If the council was entitled to go public at all on a matter where it was exercising a ‘quasi-judicial’ function, it might be expected its press statement would tell “the whole story”, Mr Justice Peter Kelly remarked. However, the council’s statement had failed to say it had decided to impose no sanction against the doctors.

Eoin McCullough SC, for the council, said while the nature of the press release had been raised in the proceedings by the doctors against the Medical Council, it was not an issue in the case and the council had therefore not addressed it in affidavits. He was sure such press releases were “not the norm”, counsel said.

The judge said the omissions in the press release were mentioned as part of general allegations of unfairness on the part of the council. The press statement was “an incomplete account” of what had occurred and that was “not by accident”. If it was an accident, it placed the council in a serious position, he added.

The exchanges occurred on the third day of proceedings in which Dr John Murphy and Professor Walter Prendiville are challenging the manner in which the Medical Council decided last February that they were guilty of professional misconduct over their reports concerning the obstetric practice of Dr Neary at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda.

Both obstetricians contend there was no evidence on which the council could have based such a finding and have claimed the council acted unlawfully and unfairly in several respects, including the failure to provide reasons for the findings of professional misconduct.

The hearing continues today.