The Minister for Health, Mr Martin, will be asked today to order the Medical Council to hand over to gardaí all its files in relation to inquiries it held into a Co Clare GP recently struck off the medical register.
The request will be made by a number of families whose members were treated by the former Killaloe GP Dr Paschal Carmody when they meet the Minister this afternoon.
The Medical Council said last week it was handing over to gardaí its files on two recent complaints against Dr Carmody which it investigated but had not decided whether to hand over files in relation to other previous complaints against the doctor which it investigated.
Gardaí are now investigating Dr Carmody and another former eye surgeon, Dr William Porter, both of whom have been involved in providing an alternative light treatment for cancer patients in the mid-west and about which they allegedly advanced significant claims which patients claim were misleading. Patients paid up to €20,000 for the treatment.
Ms Alberta Hill, whose complaint to the Medical Council about Dr Carmody's use of chelation therapy to treat her now deceased husband's angina was upheld last week, said she would also be asking Mr Martin to investigate whether or not the Medical Council had acted swiftly enough on complaints against Dr Carmody. She said the Medical Council had to be more proactive in investigating doctors rather than waiting for complaints from the public. "They had given Dr Carmody a rap on the knuckles before, years ago, and they should have been on alert to monitor him thereafter."
Gardaí raided premises belonging to both doctors last week and seized alternative medicines and files. They also seized up to €250,000 in cash from a safe in Dr Porter's clinic.