A former Invercargill doctor has been found to have acted in a way that amounted to professional misconduct after failing to advise a patient, who later died, of a cancer diagnosis.
A Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal held a hearing in Invercargill to determine whether the now-retired GP, Nelson Nagoor, failed in his care of his patient, 31-year-old Josh Linder, and acted in a way that amounted to professional misconduct.
The tribunal is made up of five people including lawyer Alison Douglass, Associate Professor Jan McKenzie, Dr William Rainger, Dr Kirsten Good and Tim Burns.
The doctor faced a charges under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 for his care of Linder between April 5 and August 2 2019.
The tribunal has determined his actions between those times did amount to negligence and brought discredit to the medical profession.
A date is yet to be set for a penalty tribunal hearing but it is likely to take place next month.
Former Invercargill doctor Nelson Nagoor faced misconduct charges after the death of Josh Linder. (Source: 1News)
Linder visited the general practitioner in April 2019 after he became concerned about a mole on his back and had it examined.
The GP diagnosed the condition as a non-cancerous lesion despite Nagoor receiving a histology report that said Linder had an invasive form of melanoma cancer.
He is accused of failing to "adequately communicate" to Linder about the report up until August 2019.
Although a "wider excision was recommended" in the report, Linder was not referred for a specialist assessment.
In September that year, Josh went and saw another doctor and found the tumour had metastasised to an area under his armpit and was confirmed to be an aggressive form of melanoma.
A complaint was then laid in November 2019 to the Health and Disability Commissioner about the treatment provided to Linder by Nagoor.
Linder died in June this year.
He spoke with TVNZ's Sunday programme just days before he died in the hope that his story would help others avoid having the same experience.
Nagoor is no longer in the country.
He worked as a general practitioner in the southern city for around three years but had also practised medicine in New Zealand for more than a decade.
He is not appearing at the hearing but is being represented by his lawyer, Adam Holloway.
On Thursday the hearing heard from his lawyer during the first day of the Tribunal.
Reading out the doctor's affidavit on his behalf, he said he wanted to "say sorry for my actions".
"I accept that I must have made a mistake" and "because of this approximately five months passed before Mr Linder received treatment for his melanoma.
"I also understand that this delay may have reduced the likelihood of treatment being successful."
The panel were to decide if Nagoor’s actions amounted to malpractice, negligence, and/or conduct that brings discredit to the medical profession.
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