The Finnish pathologist who worked as a locum in hospitals in Galway and Cork and who is at the centre of a controversy over the misdiagnosis of breast cancer patients here was found to be negligent by the Finnish medical authorities at the third level of a five-level professional sanction system.
It has emerged that the 2004 and 2006 sanctions against Dr Antoine Geagea followed investigations into work he carried out at a private medical facility while he was also working at a major public hospital in Finland. According to reports in the Finnish press yesterday, in 2006 Dr Geagea was placed on leave for health reasons by the Helsinki and Uusimaa hospital.
Dr Geagea worked in Galway from September 2006 to March 2007 and in Cork in July and August 2007.
Dr Geagea received separate "notifications" from the Finnish National Authority for Medicolegal Affairs - the equivalent of the Medical Council - following investigations into misdiagnoses at Cancentre Ltd, a private laboratory run by the Geagea family.
The company analyses tissue and biopsy samples for private and public hospitals in Finland.
A "notification" means a doctor has made a significant professional error. The sanction follows a detailed audit of the doctor's practice and is made public.
The Finnish authorities operate a five-tier system of sanctions in cases of alleged medical negligence. The mildest indicates that the doctor might have acted differently. The next level applies to minor mistakes.
The third level, "notification" - imposed twice on Dr Geagea - implies the doctor has made a negligent mistake that is not of a minor nature. A fourth tier of sanction is where the doctor receives an official written warning, while the ultimate sanction involves being suspended from or struck off the medical register.
Dr Geagea's first "notification" is dated August 10th, 2004, and concerned a case where he concluded that a sample from a woman with a breast lump represented inflammation and not cancer. However, she subsequently developed a breast discharge; a further sample analysed by Dr Geagea showed cancer cells.
An investigation by the authorities concluded that cancer cells had been present in the original sample. An expert panel, noting he analysed an average of 19 samples in one hour's work each day, criticised the speed of his work.
The second "notification" sanction, dated September 11th, 2006, involved the misdiagnosis of a woman who underwent a mastectomy before it emerged that she did not have breast cancer.
Dr Geagea has denied being reprimanded by Finnish medical authorities. Earlier this week, he told The Irish Times he had never been confronted about misdiagnosing breast cancer patients in the Republic.