Doctor ‘a lucky man’ judge did not report him

A HIGH Court judge told a doctor whose compensation case settled out of court yesterday that he was a lucky man that he was not being reported to the Irish Medical Council for inflating his claim.

Dr Sharif Saleem of Eagle Valley, Wilton, Cork, settled his case on undisclosed terms halfway though the second day of the action at the High Court sitting in Cork yesterday.

However, Mr Justice Peter Kelly made remarks to the plaintiff as he was asked to strike out the case.

“I may say that your client (Dr Saleem) can count himself lucky that I am not sending the papers to the fitness to practice committee of the Medical Council because on his own admissions he admitted this was an inflated claim and I think the public are entitled to expect that doctors would tell the truth and in particular tell the truth under oath.”

The case centred on the plaintiff’s claim for loss of earnings and damages for pain and suffering as a result of an injury suffered when his car was struck from behind by another car. At the time of this accident he was on his way to hospital for a check-up for injuries he suffered in another traffic accident two years previously.

The accident which was the subject of yesterday’s case occurred in August 2005.

“I was heading towards the CUH. I was stopped at a red light. The lady who was driving the car behind me, she ran into the back of my car, it was so sudden.

“Immediately, I felt the pain in my neck and back. It was not fully resolved from the previous accident but (immediately after second accident) it was severe pain.

“The lady approached me from the side and she says, ‘Oh my apologies, my foot slipped from the brake and I hit into you.’

“When I gathered myself together I called the guards,” the plaintiff testified.

The defendant in this accident near the CUH was the insurer for Rosaleen Beausang of Killeagh, Co Cork, and the case was before the court for an assessment of damages as liability was admitted.

The first accident, which is the subject of another claim to be dealt with later at Cork Circuit Court, occurred on June 7, 2003.