Inquiry told of apparent collusion

A fitness to practise committee of the Irish Medical Council has heard that the decision by a Cork-based GP to issue two separate prescriptions for a patient at the patient's suggestion smacked of collision.

The patient in question appeared to have invented a ruse to circumvent the scrutiny of a pharmacist and Dr Iwona Kulczyk had gone along with it, the inquiry heard.

“It smacked of collusion going on because the patient wanted to feed a drug habit. There was a particular request for a large quantity of benzodiazepines,” Professor Colin Bradley, head of the department of General Practice in University College, said today.

Dr Kulczyk is facing allegations of overprescribing of benzodiazepines or tranquillisers to up to 86 patients at her surgery in Cork in 2008. She has denied a claim of professional misconduct.