The Irish Medical Council's Fitness to Practice Committee has said it was unable to reach a determination in the case of a GP who admitted skimming over a report advising further surgery for a patient, and later tried to cover up his actions.
Dr Patrick Lee, who has a practice in Ballincollig in Co Cork, faced 15 allegations of professional misconduct and poor professional conduct.
Dr Lee also admits concealing the full contents of the report from the patient, but denies failing to apply appropriate standards of care.
The patient, 50-year-old Martin Dorney, now has stage-four cancer.
Mr Dorney, a garda superintendent and a married father of three children, told today's inquiry that he went to Dr Lee, his GP, in August 2003 with concerns about a mole on his right thigh.
Dr Lee removed the mole and later told Mr Dorney the results of a biopsy was that it was benign.
However, he failed to tell Mr Dorney that the report advised that further surgery was necessary.
Dr Lee later admitted that he had skimmed the report and failed to notice the recommendation.
When Mr Dorney was diagnosed with secondary cancer last February, Dr Lee admitted to the hearing today that he had panicked and sought to cover up his mistake by ommitting the conclusions from the histology report.
But the 45-year-old doctor denied that he only admitted the mistake when the Dorneys doggedly pursued him.
Dr Lee told the hearing that he feels a profound sense of shame and anger.
He said that he cannot apologise enough to the Dorney family - having caused them pain and being responsible for the suffering they are going through.
It was never his intention to cause this, he said.
Dr Lee added that his actions had failed them by breaching the trust they had placed in him for such a long time.
Dr Deirdre Madden of the Irish Medical Council's Fitness to Practice Committee said it will resume deliberations at a later date.
She said it would advise the interested parties of the outcome in writing and also post it on the Irish Medical Council website.
