Doctor censured over his behaviour
A psychiatrist has been censured after he was found to have behaved unprofessionally towards two patients and colleagues during his practice.
Doctor Rui Mendel was found to have made a throat-slitting gesture towards a colleague. But while the action was found to be misconduct, a tribunal said it did not warrant disciplinary action.
The psychiatrist was also found to have misled a patient’s mother, behaved inappropriately towards colleagues and kept inadequate notes in relation to a 2014 case.
Details were published yesterday by the NZ Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal of a decision it made last December.
Mendel was censured, fined $5000 and ordered to pay a contribution to costs of $71,000.
His appeal to have his name suppressed was rejected.
“The public are entitled to that information in the decision to choose the practitioner as their psychiatrist or take professional advice or assistance from him,” the tribunal’s decision said.
It was alleged Mendel misled a woman about changing her child’s medication and claiming to not know why in 2014. He later told a colleague of the lie but instructed her not to document anything. It was also alleged Mendel acted unprofessionally toward supervised colleagues in 2014 which warranted disciplinary action.
The Professional Conduct Committee conceded there had been no concerns or complaints since the misconduct occurred.
A number of mitigating factors also came into play, including the health of Mendel’s parents.