A woman says she is sickened that a GP who overlooked her cancerous abdominal 14.7kg cyst has been granted anonymity.
A High Court decision released yesterday overturned an order from the Human Rights Review Tribunal and granted the doctor permanent name suppression.
The tribunal had ruled that 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 GP was found guilty of professional misconduct by the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal in 2006. He was censured and fined $22,500 but his name was suppressed to protect his practice and family.
The doctor failed to diagnose the patient's abdominal cyst when she visited him on several occasions during 2002 and 2003, saying she was overweight and prescribed weight-loss pills.
The woman, a 44-year-old mother of three, was eventually was taken to Christchurch Hospital in severe pain where the cyst was removed.
The woman told The Press 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.
She felt ill that the doctor continued to treat patients who were unaware of the misconduct finding. The patient called for a radical change from the health system so the names of medical professionals found guilty of professional misconduct were made public.