A GP who diagnosed a patient with vertigo when he had in fact suffered a stroke has been censured with conditions attached to his registration.
The High Court heard the GP had examined the patient eight hours after he had been requested to attend the man's home where he had collapsed.
A Medical Council Fitness to Practice Committee had made findings of poor professional performance against Dr Niall O'Cleirigh over the delay in visiting his patient on 18 January 2015, failure to adequately examine him, and failure to properly consider whether there was a neurological cause for his condition.
Dr O'Cleirigh was also found guilty of poor professional performance arising from having prescribed blood pressure medication for the patient between September 2008 and November 2014 without seeing and reviewing the patient on most occasions over that period.
Mr Justice Mark Sanfey said he considered the Medical Council's sanction of Dr O'Cleirigh, with conditions attached, was appropriate and he saw no good reason not to confirm it.
The court heard Dr O'Cleirigh, with an address in Rathmines in Dublin, is registered as a specialist in the area of general practice and practices at Pearse Street primary care centre in Dublin 2, and with an out-of-hours service.
The doctor had been treating the man, aged in his 60s, since 2008 and had been prescribing him medicines.
The man had collapsed in his home on 18 January 2015 and was found by his wife. His son phoned Dr O'Cleirigh about 10.15am.
The doctor was working that day for an out-of-hours agency and did not see the patient until about 6pm when he diagnosed him as suffering from vertigo and prescribed tablets.
Hours later, about 3am the following day, the man's family summoned an ambulance to take him to a Dublin hospital where he was diagnosed as suffering from a significant stroke. He was not discharged from hospital for about six months.
The family made a complaint to the Medical Council and that resulted in a hearing before the Fitness to Practice Committee where Dr O'Cleirigh made various admissions.
The committee made findings of poor professional performance concerning the delay in seeing the patient in January 2015, the failure to carry out an adequate examination, and the prescription of medication from 2008 to 2014 without regular clinical review.
Having considered the committee's report last month, the Medical Council decided the doctor should be censured with conditions attached to his registration.
These include that he must work with a nominated person to formulate a professional development plan designed to address deficiencies in his practice concerning record keeping, clinical diagnosis, safe prescribing of drugs, and ongoing clinical review and monitoring of patients with chronic diseases.
