Doctor found guilty of professional misconduct over gastric band patient

A DOCTOR has been found guilty of professional misconduct and poor professional performance by a Medical Council fitness to practise committee over the care he gave to a woman who underwent a gastric banding procedure in Hungary.

The inquiry found that Dr Laszlo Ruscsak, who was director of Haven Cosmetic Surgery in Stillorgan, Dublin, did not provide Lucia Dowd from Lucan, Co Dublin, with a psychological review or counselling before the procedure in October 2009.

Dr Ruscsak, who is from Hungary where he is currently practising medicine, was also found to have disclosed confidential information about her case.

A report on the inquiry will be given to the Medical Council, who will decide what sanctions are to be imposed on the doctor.

The inquiry heard that the doctor, who was not present at the inquiry and had no legal defence, arranged for patients to travel to Hungary for gastric band operations.

The surgery that restricts stomach capacity was performed by another Hungarian doctor, Dr Jonas Bende, who was not present at the inquiry but gave evidence via a video link.

It was alleged that Dr Ruscsak provided wholly unsatisfactory after-care to Ms Dowd and failed to respect patient confidentiality when he provided RTÉ’s Liveline with details of her medical treatment in September 2010.

The inquiry heard that Ms Dowd, who had to get after-care elsewhere, eventually had her gastric band removed in the summer of 2010.

Counsel for the Medical Council, Patrick Leonard BL, said after Dr Ruscsak was properly contacted by Liveline, he sent a very detailed email containing photographs and medical details of Ms Dowd.

Ms Dowd said that in 2009 she had some health problems and was struggling with her weight.

After finding the Haven Clinic on the internet, she contacted Dr Ruscsak and met him for a consultation on October 1 2009.

Ms Dowd said she was taking anti-depressants at the time but Dr Ruscsak did not seem interested “in the medical sense”.

The doctor arranged for the treatment and the package including flights cost €7,000.

Later the same month Ms Dowd travelled with the doctor and another patient to Hungary for the procedure.

She felt ill when she got home a day after having the gastric band fitted but put it down to the long flight and tiredness.

“I went to bed but during the night I started to vomit. That was the beginning of it. It just proceeded from there and got worse each day,” she said.

Ms Dowd called Dr Ruscsak a number of times after becoming ill. “He said there was no need for me to see him. I just needed to relax,” she said.

Obesity specialist, Prof Donal O’Shea, said gastric banding was only offered when all other measures had been exhausted and that could be up to two years from the first visit.