A consultant surgeon at Cavan General Hospital has brought a High Court challenge to a decision to suspend him pending the outcome of an inquiry by the Minister for Health and Children into allegations of inappropriate behaviour against him.
The allegations against Dr Pawan K. Rajpal were made by another surgeon, Dr William P. Joyce. Allegations against Dr Joyce had also been made by Dr Rajpal, the court heard.
During the hearing yesterday of the application by Dr Rajpal for leave to take the challenge, Mr Justice de Valera was told there is "a history of poor interpersonal relationships" within the surgical department of the hospital.
The judge also heard of problems and delays in procuring the establishment of a committee to inquire into the allegations made.
Complaints had been made about the membership of two committees set up to carry out the inquiry and, Mr Patrick Hanratty SC, for Dr Rajpal, added, there was a dispute between consultants and the Minister about the remuneration they should receive for sitting on such committees. As a consequence of this, Dr Rajpal had been suspended since August 2003 without pay except for two repayable ex gratia payments which were insufficient to meet his living expenses, counsel said. The delay in having a committee hear and determine the matter was inordinate and inexcusable and also constituted a ground for overturning the suspension.
Mr Justice de Valera granted Mr Hanratty leave to seek, in judicial review proceedings against the NEHB and the Minister for Health, orders quashing Dr Rajpal's suspension and also overturning the decision to hold an inquiry into complaints against him made by Dr Joyce.
Outlining the background to the application for leave, Mr Hanratty said there were differences between his client and Dr Joyce. In 2002, four consultant anaesthists at Cavan hospital had made complaints against Dr Joyce who was put on administrative leave. Dr Joyce had sued the NEHB in proceedings which were compromised and Dr Joyce had returned to the hospital. Later, Dr Rajpal had complained about certain operative procedures carried out by Dr Joyce and Dr Joyce had retaliated with a wide range of allegations against Dr Rajpal.
Mr Hanratty argued that the chief executive officer of the North Eastern Health Board, Mr Paul Robinson, had misconstrued the situation under Section 24 of the Health Act 1970 when making the decision to ask the Minister for Health to hold an inquiry under that Section into the allegations made against Dr Rajpal by Dr Joyce. Under Section 24, the Minister is obliged to hold an inquiry where there are allegations of misconduct or unfitness to hold the post involved.
He said the CEO did not formulate any charges or complaints for consideration of whether Dr Rajpal was guilty of misconduct, counsel said. When the CEO had asked the Minister for an inquiry under Section 24, he did not tell the Minister of any aspect of Dr Joyce's "far-reaching" complaints on which he had decided such an inquiry should be based. This was a misconstruction of procedures under Section 24.
Mr Hanratty said the CEO had failed to study documents furnished by Dr Rajpal in response to the allegations and had acted in breach of fair procedures.
Because of the failure to follow the correct procedures of the Health Act, the Minister was wrong in holding an inquiry into the complaints against Dr Rajpal.
Dr Rajpal's proceedings follow the initiation by Dr Joyce of separate High Court proceedings in which he is seeking an early hearing of complaints against him, which complaints he has denied. He also wants to overturn his suspension.
