A JUDGE has praised a young prison officer for having had the courage to expose a hair regrowth surgical treatment for what it was, a scam and a confidence trick".
"If it wasn't a scam or a con it is certainly, with no pun intended the practice of fringe medicine," Judge Raymond Groarke told a hairdresser, and the doctor he employed to carry it out, in the Dublin Circuit Court yesterday.
Judge Groarke said prison officer Mr Michael Hickey had undergone a surgical procedure that was unnecessary and which had little or no prospect of success.
"I cannot award damages for disappointment and I have to take into consideration that Mr Hickey should have had far more sense than he demonstrated," he said.
"However, there has been a trespass upon his body and I award him general damages of £7,500 and order that he recover the £875 which he paid to have the procedure carried out."
The judge granted a decree for £8,375 jointly and severally against Mr Michael O'Byrne, trading as Hail Replant Ireland, of Lower Drumcondra Road, Dublin, and Dr Conor Kiely, of West Beach, Cobh, Co Cork.
He said Mr Hickey (34), of Kimmage Court, Lower Kimmage Road, Dublin, had been suffering from normal male-pattern hair loss in 1995. Consequent upon the taunts of his fellow workers and his own sensitivity he decided to do something about it.
Judge Groarke said Mr Hickey replied to a newspaper advertisement and determined to undergo a galea release operation which took the form of two incisions being made in the scalp followed by the insertion of a stainless steel implement to stimulate blood supply to the hair roots.
He said a company representative had told him the treatment would prevent further hair loss and stimulate regrowth. At all times the company displayed an anxiety to have Mr Hickey part with his money by encouraging him to undergo treatment as a matter of urgency.
Judge Groarke said the company had left explanations as to the risks involved to Dr Kiely and had failed in its duty to ensure Mr Hickey was given all relevant information about the procedure.
He said he had found the evidence of a consultant dermatologist, Dr Gillian Murphy compelling. She had described it as a nonsense, a scam and a con trick.
"I find there has been express and purposeful misrepresentation on the part of the company insofar as the chance of success was concerned," he told Mr Conor Bowman, counsel for Mr Hickey.
Referring to the doctor-patient relationship, the judge said he found it extraordinary that a consent form should have been produced to Mr Hickey just before he was about to undergo surgery.
He granted Mr Declan Buckley, counsel for Dr Kiely, and Ms Ann Power, counsel for the company, a stay pending consideration of an appeal to the High Court.