THE doctor at the centre of a medical council fitness-to-practise inquiry may have been singled out more because he was an outsider at Sligo general hospital, according to sources close to the hospital.
Victor Moore, an obstetrician from Northern Ireland, had a poor relationship with medical authorities in the Sligo area, the sources said.
Last week, the Irish Medical Council, (IMC) the governing body for doctors, secured a High Court order preventing the consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist from working as a doctor pending a hearing by the council’s fitness-to-practise committee.
The investigation into Moore — who had no prior complaints during the 29 years he was registered with the British General Medical Council (GMC) — centres on allegations that the level of complications recorded in patients he treated was higher than the norm.
“The medical council have moved too fast,” a senior source said. “They have made a mistake. Yes, there were serious concerns about his rate of complications. Yes, there are problems at Sligo, but they are manageable.
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His only real crime is that he is from Northern Ireland and didn’t gel with the local scene. It would appear that this man was a victim of bigotry and sectarianism.”
“The obstetrics department has been stretched because it has been so understaffed, he was literally running the place on his own. But there was still a sense of unease before that, he was regarded as an outsider.”
Concern over the level of complications among Moore’s patients prompted the board to commission a report by John Bonnar, former professor of obstetrics at Trinity College. The medical council will also investigate the relevant management structures at the hospital.
It is understood that Moore, a diabetic who suffers from depression, had repeatedly asked the hospital for leave and for his heavy schedule to be eased.
The three-man obstetrics unit has been severely hampered by the absence of his colleagues, Carthage Carroll and Brendan Gill, an obstetrician who took sick leave shortly after a highly publicised medical negligence action against him.
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Sligo general is the latest hospital whose consultants have attracted controversy. Last year, two doctors were suspended as a result of difficulties within the surgical department at Cavan general hospital.
Following the suspensions, Micheal Martin, the minister for health, ordered a ministerial committee to investigate conduct at the surgical unit.
Stephen McMahon of the Irish Patients Association said similar independent inquiries were needed to protect patients.
“It is not enough to single out individual doctors,” said McMahon. “We need an independent review of all of the processes that leads to the kinds of situations that we are increasingly facing — organistational structures, interpersonal issues, work-related stress.”
The move by the medical council to seek a High Court ban fuelled fears that Moore had been carrying out similar procedures to Michael Neary, the disgraced Drogheda obstetrician.
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But Bonnar, who carried out a review of Moore’s practice, has said that the two cases bear no similarity.