Doctors to meet about reports

Press, 14 April 1984, Page 3

Doctors to meet about reports

PA Wellington s The Medical Council has i given a Whangamata doc- < tor. Dr lan Duncan, until « midday Tuesday to inform it of the time and place for 1 a meeting about reports < that he may be psychi- s atrically ill. < The council’s chairman, ] Dr Stewart Alexander, of < Wellington, said last even- ] ing that he had spoken with Dr Duncan on the telephone I for two hours yesterday. He said Dr Duncan had ; been asked by the council to I take a psychiatric examina- < tion to see if he was medi- < cally fit to continue practis- ! ing. He had agreed to a meeting but wanted to first | consult with his lawyer be- I fore agreeing on a time and i pl&e. < Dr Duncan yesterday 1

said, “At this stage I have no intention of keeping an appointment with a psychiatrist.” Dr Duncan became a public figure when he spoke out about a Whangamata schoolbus driver with a diseased heart and a hospital surgeon, who, he said, caused the death of • a patient. The bus driver has since been banned from driving. At the meeting Dr Alexander said he would be trying to convince Dr Duncan of the reasons why the council had asked him to see a psychiatrist. The meeting was not going to be a “one-man hearing” and he had no intention of judging Dr Duncan’s psychiatric condition from it.