Health and Disability Commissioner Morag McDowell today
released her findings following an investigation into
complaints against a GP who advised patients against having
the COVID-19 vaccination.
The GP sent an unsolicited
text message to around 600 patients expressing his
non-conventional views on the COVID-19 vaccine, and advised
others in person not to be vaccinated.
The
Commissioner found that the GP breached the Code of Health
and Disability Services Consumers’ Rights (the Code) in
relation to multiple patients. His failure to provide
balanced information to patients went against the Medical
Council of New Zealand (MCNZ) standards.
Ms McDowell
was critical of the GP’s failure to give one patient, whom
he saw in person, balanced and accurate information to
enable the patient to make an informed choice about whether
or not to be vaccinated. Ms McDowell also found that another
patient did not receive information from the GP that a
reasonable person in his circumstances would expect to
receive.
“I accept that the GP was entitled to hold
and express opinions regarding the COVID-19 vaccine subject
to maintaining legal, professional, ethical and other
relevant standards. The issue is whether the manner in which
the GP expressed his opinions was a breach of the Code,”
says Ms McDowell.
“The GP used the medical centre’s
patient management system to access patient contact details
in order to send an unsolicited text message to around 600
patients on his patient list (including casual patients),
who had not sought his opinion and were not necessarily
making a choice about the vaccine or giving informed
consent.
“Informed consent is vital, and indeed it is
the cornerstone of the Code. I do not accept that the
information in the text message was sufficiently balanced to
enable patients to make an informed choice as to whether or
not they would be vaccinated.
“It is evident from the
response from the patients that many found the GP’s
actions to be distressing. In my view, there is a power
imbalance in the doctor-patient relationship, which means
that patients are likely to be influenced by advice given by
their doctor.”
Ms McDowell was also critical of the
GP’s failure to document the information he provided
during the consultations in person.
Ms McDowell
recommended that in the event that the GP is granted another
practising certificate, the Medical Council of New Zealand
undertake a competence assessment and require him to
practise with conditions that address the issues in her
report.
Ms McDowell also recommended that the GP
apologise to each of the individual patients who raised
concerns about his behaviour, and that should the GP return
to medical practice, he undertake training on professional
and ethical standards.
Ms McDowell recommended that
the medical centre consider developing guidelines on the use
of its patient lists and patient management
system.
The full report of this case
can be viewed on HDC’s website – see HDC’s ‘ Latest
Decisions‘.
Names have been removed from the
report to protect privacy of the individual involved in this
case. We anticipate that the Commissioner will name DHBs and
public hospitals found in breach of the Code unless it would
not be in the public interest or would unfairly compromise
the privacy interests of an individual provider or a
consumer. HDC’s naming policy can be found on our website
here.
HDC
promotes and protects the rights of people using health and
disability services as set out in the Code
of Health and Disability Services Consumers’ Rights (the
Code).
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