Cork-based doctor admits poor professional performance

A Cork-based doctor who failed to diagnose a potentially serious condition in a patient has pleaded guilty to poor professional performance at a fitness to practise inquiry of the Medical Council.

Dr Saleem Sharif, a locum GP from Ballyphehane, admitted he failed to properly examine and perform tests on the patient, who had given birth to twins two weeks earlier.

The patient, Alison Hickey, told the inquiry she was feeling very unwell and could barely walk when she went to see Dr Sharif at the GP Now clinic in Sandyford, Dublin, in October 2014.

“I felt like I had a really bad flu. I ached all over, it was hard for me to walk, and I had to be helped to get to and from the car.”

Two weeks earlier, at age 45, she had given birth to twin boys by emergency caesarean section. The twins, who were conceived using IVF, were born at 32 weeks and Ms Hickey was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia during the pregnancy.

Ms Hickey presented with flu-like symptoms and an odorous discharge. She said the appointment with Dr Sharif lasted less than five minutes, during which he asked her whether she had a sore throat and in relation to the discharge she was experiencing.

He did not check her temperature, blood pressure or heart rate and failed to carry out a breast or abdominal examination. He also failed to arrange a follow-up appointment.

Dr Sharif trained in his native Pakistan and has been on the medical register in Ireland since 2005. In 2011, he was found guilty of poor professional performance over his treatment of a cardiac patient in Cork two years earlier. Last year, he made a €733,000 settlement with the Revenue Commissioners in relation to his tax affairs.

In Ms Hickey’s case, he diagnosed a urinary tract infection and prescribed antibiotics for her. Very few questions were asked and there was little “interaction,” she said.

Her symptoms worsened on returning home and she became increasingly unwell. Her husband Karl called an ambulance the following day after her temperature reached 39.6 degrees and her body went into spasm.

She was taken to the Rotunda maternity hospital where staff diagnosed endometritis, an inflammation of the uterus which can lead to sepsis and organ failure if not properly treated. She was immediately put on a course of intravenous treatment. Her temperature subsided within days, though she continued to experience bleeding for six weeks.

Simon Mills, for Dr Sharif, said his client had offered Mrs Hickey and her husband his sincere apologies for any inconvenience caused.

He described the incident as an “isolated case” involving a failure to take an adequate history or carry out an adequate examination.

Dr Sharif accepted the wrong diagnosis had been reached and has not come to the attention of the Medical Council since 2014, he said.

GP Dr Catherine Wann, appearing as an expert witness for the council, said there were “serious failings” in Dr Sharif’s treatment of the patient, given the potential for sepsis developing. She stressed the importance of a doctor making relevant investigations and beginning appropriate treatment so the potential for serious infection was minimised.

Before the case opened, Mr Mills sought unsuccessfully to have it heard in private. Before evidence was heard, he said his client was prepared to give the council a number of undertakings.

Dr Sharif promised not to repeat the conduct he is accused of, to cooperate with a performance review and to agree to being censured, counsel said.

The committee rejected this offer and said evidence should be heard in the case.

The case continues on Tuesday.