A CONSULTANT gynaecologist who worked at a private hospital in Galway has been found guilty of professional misconduct and is to be suspended from the medical register for one year, following a Medical Council fitness to practise inquiry.
Dr Andrea Hermann was reported to the council over the care she provided to seven patients at the Galway Clinic, Doughiska, near Galway city, between February 2005 and November 2008.
The inquiry into her fitness to practise, which was held partly in public and partly in private, began last October and The Irish Timeshas now learned that a decision to find her guilty of professional misconduct was made by the fitness to practise committee last month.
The finding was subsequently confirmed by a meeting of the full Medical Council on June 1st but was not made public, despite the fact that part of the inquiry had been held in public.
Following queries from this newspaper, the Medical Council confirmed yesterday that the reserved judgment of the fitness to practise committee was finalised on May 14th and that in the case of reserved judgments “it is not the practice of the fitness to practise committee to reconvene the inquiry in order to convey its decision”.
It said however that it expected the full report of the reserved judgment to be published next week “following the necessary work that is required to remove the parts that relate to the areas of the inquiry which were held in private”.
As well as suspending Dr Hermann’s name from the register for 12 months, the Medical Council decided to attach conditions to her name on the register which will apply immediately upon the period of suspension expiring.
It’s understood Dr Hermann has until June 21st to appeal the Medical Council’s decision to the High Court. Details of the care Dr Hermann gave to just two of the seven patients over whose treatment she faced allegations were heard in public. The allegations in relation to the other five were held in private.
The cases heard in public centred on treatment she provided to Saundra O’Connor (39) from Claregalway, Co Galway, who developed septic shock after a procedure carried out by Dr Hermann in 2005.
The woman subsequently spent almost three years in a vegetative state before she died in February 2008.
Dr Hermann admitted to the fitness to practise committee that her care of this woman amounted to professional misconduct.
The second case heard in public related to her treatment of a 39-year-old woman with haemophilia who also had to be admitted to a public hospital after Dr Hermann operated on her on March 26th, 2008. Dr Hermann made no admission in relation to this patient. It’s understood she was found guilty of professional misconduct in relation to her treatment of some, but not all, of the seven patients.
Details of the precise cases in which she was found guilty of professional misconduct will be revealed when the reserved judgment of the fitness to practise committee is made public next week.