Doctor diagnosed woman with gastric flu a day before she died

Allegations of professional misconduct have been brought against a doctor who diagnosed a 20-year-old woman with gastric flu a day before she died of pneumonia.

A Medical Council fitness-to-practise inquiry heard yesterday that 20-year-old Vicki Core, a trainee hairdresser, was pronounced dead in Tallaght Hospital on July 1st, 2007, a day after attending a GP who diagnosed her with gastric flu and prescribed Motilium.

The council instructed that the doctor’s name and details about the medical surgery be anonymised following an application by his legal representatives, meaning he can only be identified as Dr A.

He faces 11 allegations, including that he failed to carry out examinations in a competent manner, failed to arrange for Ms Core to be referred to hospital, and failed to give adequate consideration to the results of blood tests arranged by another doctor in early June.

It is also alleged the doctor failed to maintain adequate records of his consultation with her and that he made additions to his records after he became aware of her death which were not highlighted as being retrospective.

Difficulty breathing
Solicitor Neasa Bird, appearing on behalf of the chief executive of the Medical Council, said it would hear evidence that, on the day she attended the GP, Ms Core was having difficulty breathing and was complaining of palpitations. Her father gave evidence that he had to help her in and out of the doctor's surgery and that she was lying on the floor of the waiting room.

The inquiry heard Ms Core had been diagnosed with gastric flu and prescribed Motilium, a drug to suppress nausea and vomiting.

Heard a thud
The hearing was told that, having checked on Ms Core the following morning, her mother heard a thud coming from the room where her daughter slept. She found her collapsed on the floor and tried to resuscitate her.

Ms Core was taken by ambulance to Tallaght hospital. When she reached the hospital, she was in cardiac arrest and died a short time later.

The Medical Council heard that a postmortem had concluded the likely cause of death was community-acquired bronchial pneumonia.

Ms Bird said that, in correspondence with the Medical Council, Dr A had provided a copy of Ms Core’s medical records relating to her assessment on June 30th, 2007, and indicated that, during the consultation he had made a handwritten note of his assessment which he later transferred to the computer system.

According to the correspondence read by Ms Bird, Dr A said that, following the consultation, he had been on leave until July 16th, 2007, and only learned of Ms Core’s death after he returned to the surgery.

Quoting from correspondence from Dr A, Ms Bird said the doctor had found it “appropriate on the 16th of July, 2007, to revisit” his original computer entry to better reflect his account of the consultation and to include further details contained in his handwritten note, but added: “Unfortunately, much to my regret, having entered these further outstanding details I thereafter disposed of my original handwritten note.”

The case continues today.