Here in Invercargill,NZ we have this indian doctor Ajit M Johri.
An article in the NZ Herald describes how on November 24 2004,he saw a pregnant woman patient complaining of a lump in her breast and all he did was prescribe a 10 day course of antibiotics and panadol and made a further appointment for a week's time.On December 1st when she returned to see him there was only some relief from pain.Dr Johri neither referred her on to see a specialist,nor was a follow up appointment made.
In February 2005 after getting advice from her midwife she went up to Dunedin Hospital to the breast screening facility and she was diagnosed with a breast carcinoma (cancer).
She died in november 2005 after having had a caesarian birth in March,followed by a mastectomy (breast removal) in April.
A Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal found Dr Johri guilty of misconduct and ordered him to 1/3 of the costs of the tribunal.They said that his actions were a "serious departure" from the standards expected of a general practitioner and they considered a formal censure to be a 'genuine' punishment.
However there is no such thing as the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal which is just a fancy name for the 2 or 3 people who met somewhere in Auckland to hear the case and their conception of a "formal censure" was probably just the few lines written in an obscure file somewhere.
The article says that in Dr Johri's affadavit that he could not express how he felt and how sorry he was about what happened,but the thing here is that he never even had to physically appear and just continued on with his practise and there is no mention anywhere of his 'even' having been directed to update his skills so that this sort of thing doesn't happen again.
Apparently there's supposed to be a real shortage of qualified doctors in NZ and that may be so,but would 'you' trust this doctor with 'your' life?
His wife reckons it's ok for him to make a mistake or 2 in life,but we all know that's a load of crap,because out here in the real world if one of 'us' makes a mistake there's a markedly different way of dealing with us eh?
ie if you don't pay your bills,your fines,your rent or you're a bad tenant,your name goes out on a list,the same if you're a suspected sex offender or brothel owner.
Then of course if you get caught you're off to court and your name gets printed in the newspaper,which isn't really all that bad,because when they can't catch you,they'll put you out on the radio,the newspapers and Crimewatch.
I think it prudent to warn you all that this doctor not only continues to operate as if nothing ever happened but who advertises everywhere both nation and worldwide how he specialises in both sports and family medicine and how he accepts students and trainees into his practice.
He likes to skite about how he's Invercargill's ACC doctor,ILT hotel and motel doctor,Sportsmed doctor,family doctor and how he used to be Invercargill Prison's doctor and in his own words is a 'really,really good doctor'.
In a review written about him on ratemds.com it is suggested that anything you hear or read that's good about him,was probably written by him and I myself agree with the sentiment that he has absolutely no empathy or compassion for his patients' who are just money to him.
Googling his name will get you access to his website,which will show a photo of an asian family with their doctor in attendance,but that's not him,because Dr Johri is of course an indian as his name suggests and is only used by him to put you at ease.
Ok so the nzherald wrote about him,but I doubt if you'd find even 1 Invercargill resident who is a subscriber and I'd put it to you that it's highly likely that his next door neighbours never even 'heard' about it.