Doc who missed 15kg cyst granted anonymity

A South Island woman whose GP overlooked a cancerous 14.7kg cyst is sickened the doctor has been granted permanent name suppression.

The GP has been fighting to keep his name and the practice where he works secret since being found guilty of professional misconduct by the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal in 2006.

The doctor failed to diagnose the patient's abdominal cyst when she visited him on several occasions during 2002 and 2003, evidence heard during the doctor's tribunal hearing showed.

Instead, the doctor told his patient, who cannot be named, she was overweight and prescribed weight-loss pills.

The patient, a 44-year-old mother of three, eventually was taken to Christchurch Hospital by ambulance in severe pain and a cyst weighing more than four times an average newborn was removed, the tribunal evidence showed.

The woman said yesterday the cyst was cancerous and she needed an operation to remove her womb, ovaries and fallopian tubes.

"I've lost my insides, but he's still practising," she said.

A High Court decision released yesterday granted the doctor permanent name suppression, overturning an order from the Human Rights Review Tribunal, which said the doctor's desire for anonymity did not outweigh the public's right to decide for themselves whether they wanted him to treat them.

The patient told The Press she felt ill the doctor concerned continued to treat patients who were unaware of the misconduct finding.

"It sucks," she said.

"If I go to any other business, I can see the certificate of registration on the wall. I can choose whether I deal with them or not. This doctor caused me pain and suffering, but no one can know."

The patient said she wanted a radical change from the health system so the names of medical professionals found guilty of professional misconduct were made public.

- © Fairfax NZ News