A doctor who has been accused of rape in a complaint to the Medical Council can only practice medicine on a restricted basis pending further order, the High Court has ruled.
Mr Justice Micheál O’Higgins refused an application from the council to suspend the man but imposed restrictions on how he works. The judge gave details of the case in a judgment given last October and published on Friday.
The judge said that in February of last year a woman with whom the doctor had been in a five-year relationship made several extremely serious allegations to the Medical Council against him, including that he raped her at her home in late 2022 and attempted to rape her on two other previous occasions.
She said they did not live together as he is married. She claimed she married him within the Islamic faith and he ended the relationship abruptly in late 2022 by verbally divorcing her.
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She also claimed he twice forced her to take medication that induced abortions after she became pregnant. She also said she obtained a three-year barring order against him and that gardaí have opened a criminal investigation on foot of a statement she made to them.
The doctor, a GP who qualified abroad and subsequently registered in Ireland, denies all the allegations.
In a sworn statement, he denied he ever raped or attempted to rape the complainant.
He said one of the only specific details provided by her about the allegation of rape is that she recounted that she said they could not have sexual relations because they were no longer married. This was completely untrue in circumstances where they were never married to begin with, he said.
He admitted he was in an extramarital relationship with the complainant which he described as a very difficult matter for both him and his wife, who he said is very supportive of him.
He and the complainant were never married, either civilly or in accordance with the Islamic faith, he said. Marriage in the Islamic faith is required to be done in front of two witnesses and there were no such witnesses because it never happened, he said.
In relation to a claim by her that she obtained a barring order against him he said he gave an undertaking to the District Court to stay away from her not because he had done anything wrong but because he wanted nothing more to do with her.
He also strongly denied the forced abortion claims along with several other claims she made about his professional, financial and personal life.
In seeking his suspension by the High Court, the Medical Council argued that in the course of his denials, the doctor made a series of demonstrably false statements, both to the Council and on affidavit.
These false statements concerned matters which are absolutely central to the woman’s complaint, the extent of their relationship, his role as her treating doctor and his knowledge of her pregnancy, it was argued.
It was asserted that he had even admitted on affidavit to having deliberately attempted to mislead the council on certain matters.
The council contended it was in the public interest to suspend him from practice.
The doctor argued that, despite their serious nature, no criminal proceedings have been commenced by gardaí.
He was willing to continue undertakings given to the Medical Council and the court to only see patients in the presence of medically qualified women chaperones.
Mr Justice O’Higgins said the doctor appeared to be in error about the Garda investigation because the evidence was that an investigation had commenced although no charges have been brought.
As a period of suspension would be likely to last some years, the judge said he had to weigh the financial hardship question in the scales as a factor tending against a suspension order.
He was satisfied that, at the very least, significant conditions should be put in place for the doctor to ensure, so far as is possible, the protection of the public.
He imposed restrictions including that he is not to engage in the practice of medicine for more than six hours per week and not to examine women patients in the absence of a chairperson pending the conclusion of the complaint.
He is also to provide the Medical Council with an update if he is charged with any offence concerning the complainant and not to contact her or any members of her family.
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