Doctor refused to respond to call

Press, 31 October 1983, Page 5

Doctor refused to respond to call

PA Wellington A country doctor, who refused to answer an afterhours emergency call because of an argument with the patient’s wife, has been found guilty of professional misconduct. The Medical Practitioners’ Disciplinary Committee has censured him and ordered him to pay $2OOO to cover the cost of the inquiry. All names are suppressed in the committee’s findings, which are published in the latest “New Zealand Medical Journal.”

In its findings, the committee says the doctor’s re-

fusal to respond to an afterhours emergency call was inexcusable.

As the duty doctor in a country practice he received an urgent call from a senior ambulance officer to see a patient who had collapsed suddenly. He refused to go because of an argument he had had with the man’s wife two months before about fees. “Such refusal was inexcusable and the reasons he gave for such refusal did not provide excuse for his failure to provide professional skills in an emergency,” the committee said.

The committee also found that the patient’s wife was justified in complaining about the doctor’s fee for an after-hours visit.

It said for an evening visit, the doctor charged five times the fee for a similar service in the daytime. It said the figure was excessive and one of about three times the daytime fee would have been more appropriate.

The committee did not find the doctor guilty of unbecoming conduct on this point but directed him to reduce his fee to a gross amount of $4O.