A LOCUM consultant who was responsible for a significant number of errors in the laboratory of University College Hospital Galway (UCHG) which resulted in cancer patients getting a delayed diagnosis had "a certificate of good standing" from Finish medical authorities when he sought entry to the medical register in the Republic, it has emerged.
The locum, Dr Antoine Geagea, registered with the Irish Medical Council in September 2006 and was then immediately employed to work at UCHG from September 2006 to March 2007. He then moved to Cork University Hospital (CUH) and worked in the laboratory there in July and August 2007.
It emerged last year, however, after a review of his work at UCHG began, that he had been sanctioned by the Finnish equivalent of the Irish Medical Council in 2004 and 2006 over the misdiagnosis of two women with breast cancer. Questions were then raised about whether the Irish Medical Council was aware of these sanctions when it registered him to work here.
The report of the review of his work, published last week by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) as part of its investigation into an 18-month delay in the diagnosis of a Tipperary woman with breast cancer, did not address what the medical council knew when it registered him to work here. HIQA referred queries on this issue to the council.
Asked a series of questions on this issue by The Irish Times, the medical council first said it couldn't comment given that Dr Geagea was not named in the HIQA report. However, when a series of further questions were put to it, it said: "When this doctor applied for registration in Ireland, he had a certificate of good standing from the authorities in Finland."
Asked what this meant it said this effectively meant there were no complaints against the doctor being investigated in Finland at the time. "A certificate of good standing is issued on the basis that there are no complaints in progress or contemplated against the doctor.
"The medical council checklist for applicants from Finland requires the submission of an original certificate of good standing to be sent directly from the overseas registration authority to the medical council. Finnish certificates of good standing are issued by the National Authority for Medicolegal Affairs," it added.
The Irish Medical Council proceeded to register Dr Geagea to work here on the basis that a certificate of good standing had been provided for him by the authorities in Finland.
According to the HIQA report, UCHG checked with the medical council to see if Dr Geagea was registered to work here before employing him. He had at that stage been sourced through a recruitment agency and had been interviewed by teleconference. CUH said it also checked to ensure he was registered with the medical council.
The HIQA report noted that Dr Geagea's error rate was up to six times the norm. Minister for Health Mary Harney has referred his work to the council for investigation. Dr Geagea could not be contacted on his mobile yesterday. It is understood he is back in Finland.
