Dept wanted to protect confidence
PA Auckland The Trade and Industry Department withheld details of a fees complaint against a doctor because it wanted to protect the patient’s confidence. A departmental spokesman, Mr Paul Barrett, said
investigators also wanted to ensure that the public felt free to continue notifying it of fee increases.
He was replying to assertions by an Auckland physician, Dr William Bruce, who said he was unable to get details of a patient’s comB" ’ t for five months and y had to go to the Ombudsman. Dr Bruce said he discovered the complaint was not about him yet “extensive practice details” were demanded by the department. Mr Barrett said a medical practice was named in the complaint and it was never proved which doctor the patient was referring to. He said Dr Bruce had increased his fees “significantly’ and the rise merited investigation even without a complaint.
Dr Bruce said in a letter to the “New Zealand Medical Journal” that he reduced his fees during the department’s probe and they were still reduced five months later.
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Press, 5 November 1984, Page 5
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179Dept wanted to protect confidence Press, 5 November 1984, Page 5
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