Complaints against doctor upheld

A WOMAN who went to a hospital emergency department on crutches having suffered a football injury was told the problem was “all in her head”, an inquiry was told yesterday.

The Medical Council’s fitness to practise committee was told that Dr Babatunde Olugbenga Bantale failed to properly examine the woman when she presented at Kerry General Hospital in Tralee in June last year.

The committee upheld a number of complaints of poor professional performance against Dr Bantale (42), formerly with an address at Silver Springs, Cork, over aspects of his treatment of the now 23-year-old woman.

Dr Bantale denied telling the woman the problem was all in her head and this allegation was found by the committee to be not proven, as his notes indicated there was some pain and he had prescribed analgesics.

The inquiry was told that having been discharged from the hospital’s emergency department, the woman went to her GP who diagnosed a torn cruciate ligament in her right leg and referred her for an MRI scan. The scan confirmed that injury.

She underwent surgery, which was mainly paid for by the GAA and involved an overnight stay in hospital.

Her experience with Dr Bantale led her to opt for private, rather than public, health treatment, the woman said.

The committee, which granted her request not to disclose her identity, found that Dr Bantale failed to carry out an adequate examination of her which would have indicated the range of movement related to cruciate ligament injuries.

This amounted to poor professional performance as did his failure to refer the woman for a second opinion as she had requested, the committee said.

Dr Bantale’s failure to apply the standards of clinical judgment expected for a person in the position of a medical registrar also constituted poor professional performance, it found.

The Medical Council’s committee agreed with the view of Dr Fergal Cummins, a consultant in emergency medicine, who said he would be critical of Dr Bantale’s failure to suspect a ligament injury and refer the patient on.

However, he said he would not characterise as poor professional performance his failure to actually diagnose the cruciate injury, as such injuries were commonly missed.

While finding Dr Bantale was dismissive of the woman’s concerns, the committee said that did not constitute poor professional performance but rather a “failure of communication”. It also ruled as not proven that he acted in a rude manner.

The woman went to the hospital on June 30th, 2010, after suffering a knee injury playing football. She claimed her knee was obviously swollen, she could not stand on it, was in discomfort and had come to the hospital on crutches soon after midnight.

She was seen by a nurse and then Dr Bantale after three hours, she said. He was dismissive of her complaints and insisted she could put her weight on her leg when she could not, she said.

Dr Bantale, now practising in Australia, worked in several hospitals here for five years and was a medical registrar in June 2010. He left Ireland early this year and participated in the inquiry by phone yesterday.

He denied poor professional performance, said he never told the woman it was “all in her head” and saw no evidence of a cruciate tear.