Reilly locum took ring in lieu of money or medical card

THE MINISTER for Health has said he is “satisfied” with the action he took in 2006 to deal with an out-of-hours GP who asked for jewellery from one of his patients who forgot her medical card.

The services of the locum doctor who covered the out-of-hours service for Dr James Reilly and other GPs in north Dublin at the time of the incident were not used again by the practice, a spokesman for Dr Reilly said yesterday.

There was no onus on Dr Reilly to contact the Medical Council at the time of the incident, his spokesman said.

Antoinette McLoughlin is a patient in Dr Reilly’s practice in Lusk, Co Dublin, and has spoken publicly about the incident for the first time this week.

Ms McLoughlin arrived at an office in Swords for consultation with the locum doctor one night in 2006 seeking treatment for her son Michael, who has epilepsy. She forgot her medical card and her money.

"When I got there, he refused to see me on the grounds that he [her son] didn't have a medical card and we didn't have the money to pay," she told the David Harvey Showon 4FM radio yesterday.

“He told me that I had plenty of jewellery and I asked him if he wanted me to give him my jewellery and he said ‘yeah’, so I gave him my eternity ring,” she said.

Ms McLoughlin said the locum doctor came to her house the next morning to give her the ring and when she refused to take it, he posted it through the letterbox.

Dr Reilly was abroad on holiday at the time but Ms McLoughlin said she was told he would deal with it. On his return he arranged a meeting with the locum and the patient at his practice.

“The doctor told me it was a human error,” Ms McLoughlin told RTÉ radio yesterday. “I just felt his mannerism wasn’t right and he should be struck off.”

Dr Reilly’s spokesman said: “The doctor apologised profusely for what occurred and was advised that his services were no longer required.”

Dr Reilly was advised then that the locum doctor had made contact with the Medical Council, his spokesman said. A Medical Council spokeswoman could not comment on whether or not such a complaint had been received.

While there is now a requirement to contact the Medical Council on any clinical complaint, the onus was not there at the time, the Minister’s spokesman said.

The Medical Council’s 2006 ethical guidelines advise contacting the council if a colleague’s response is unsatisfactory but the 2009 guidelines say doctors “must act” by notifying authorities about concerns.