€5,000 fine for gynaecologist found guilty of professional misconduct
Ann O'Loughlin
A consultant gynaecologist found guilty of professional misconduct for directing a further “thirty second step” be carried out during a diagnostic gynaecological procedure on five different women without obtaining their consent is to be fined €5,000.
The President of the High Court, Mr Justice David Barniville, on Monday confirmed the Medical Council sanction against Professor Raymond O’Sullivan, which also includes a letter of censure over the procedure carried out during an internal examination with a camera at St Luke’s Hospital, Kilkenny.
The allegations related to a direction to insert an abdominal rectal pressure catheter to measure intravaginal pressure while carrying out a hysteroscopy on five different women on September 4th-5th, 2018, at St Luke’s Hospital.
It was also found that Professor O’Sullivan failed to produce advance approval from the local research ethics committee or to comply with professional guidelines about the use of the catheter.
Counsel for the Medical Council, Nessa Bird BL told the court that there were three separate complaints including from solicitors representing two of the women.
At the start of the inquiry, Professor O’Sullivan admitted the allegations and that they amounted to professional misconduct. The High Court heard that it was professional misconduct of the type to represent a serious falling short of the standards of conduct expected of medical practitioners.
The Fitness to Practise Committee had heard that Professor O’Sullivan who had a research idea had the honest belief that the added thirty second step did not require the consent of the patient. It was accepted that the motivation behind the step was benign and there were a number of mitigating factors including that the consultant had apologised to the women.
In the High Court Mr Justice Barniville said he saw no good reason not to confirm the sanctions and he also granted costs to the Medical Council.
The chairperson of the Medical Council inquiry, Jill Long earlier this year , said the fitness-to-practise committee also noted that medical records contained no reference to any consent having been obtained from any of the five female patients in advance of the procedure.
Ms Long said the committee’s conclusions were also based on a systems analysis review of what happened by the Ireland East Hospital Group, of which St Luke’s Hospital in Kilkenny is a part.
She also observed that the issue arose while Professor O’Sullivan alone had taken the decision to conduct a feasibility study of using the catheter to measure intravaginal pressure while performing a diagnostic hysteroscopy.
Ms Long said the purpose of the research on the five patients was to see if a future proposed study was even possible.
She explained that the research was to determine if there was a better alternative that could be developed to the traditional method of carrying out such an examination as the use of a speculum caused “so much more discomfort.”
The three-member committee concluded that the proven allegations represent professional misconduct in so far as they represented a serious falling short of the standards of conduct expected of medical practitioners.
