A Medical Council sub-committee has recommended that Cork GP Dr James Barry be struck off the general register of medical practitioners after finding that he was guilty of professional misconduct.
The fitness to practise committee of the Medical Council will present its report in Dublin today after hearing evidence from seven of Dr Barry's former patients, two medical experts and a Garda officer over a three-day period last July.
The three-person committee under the chairmanship of Brendan Healy found that in one case, Dr Barry had made sexual advances to a patient, pursued a personal relationship of an emotional and/or sexual nature with her and made indecent suggestions to her.
The committee also found that Dr Barry, of Lauriston Lodge, Glanmire, Co Cork, had coerced the woman by means of threats and/or promises to engage in indecent behaviour and had undertaken improper photographic recordings of the woman.
In the case of another woman, the committee also found that Dr Barry, who had his surgery at Sidney Place, Wellington Road in Cork, had indecently assaulted her and had also made improper photographic recordings of her.
In the case of another patient who was under 18 at the time, the committee found that Dr Barry had undertaken inappropriate treatment and had failed to obtain the necessary consents in respect of the treatment of a minor.
In the case of five other women, the committee ruled that Dr Barry undertook improper medical examinations, while in the case of one of these women, the committee also found that he had behaved indecently.
"The committee found that Dr Barry was a highly intelligent, if somewhat rigid individual, who showed absolutely no remorse for his actions even in respect of those acts which he admitted to have done," said the report.
Dr Barry could not "apparently see any wrong on his part" in relation to the videoing of one patient, said the committee, which struck out several other allegations against Dr Barry including all allegations made by four other patients.
The Irish Times understands that Dr Barry, who represented himself throughout the hearing, will today challenge the findings of the fitness to practice committee on a total of 38 grounds which he will present to the committee.
It is understood that Dr Barry will argue that inadmissible evidence was allowed at the hearing, that he was denied legal assistance and that the hearing was conducted in an oppressive manner which denied him proper rest periods.
He will also argue that the committee failed to give him proper notice of witnesses and that he was served with hundreds of documents in the month prior to the hearing.
Earlier this year, Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin put a stay on the State prosecuting Dr Barry on 212 charges of sexual assault after the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Dr Barry's human's rights were violated by the State's delay in proceeding with the case.
The charges, which spanned the period 1966 to 1995, were laid by gardaí after complaints by some 38 former patients of Dr Barry, triggered by a female patient coming forward in May 1995 and alleging that Dr Barry had made video recordings of her nude or semi-naked.
