Canterbury GP accused of prescribing unapproved drugs and spreading misinformation

A Canterbury doctor has been accused of professional misconduct after she allegedly imported and prescribed unapproved drugs to 29 patients and provided ‘inaccurate’ and ‘misleading’ advice about Covid-19.

The GP, who has withdrawn her name for the time being, faces the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal where she faces charges of professional misconduct brought by the New Zealand Medical Council’s Professional Conduct Committee (PCC).

The council’s role is to protect and promote public health and safety.

The alleged ‘inaccurate’ and ‘misleading’ comments relate to the GP’s speech at a Freedom and Rights meeting in 2021 and when she submitted an oral position to a council on vaccination passes.

The PCC claims the GP “downplayed the seriousness of Covid-19”, claimed the Pfizer vaccine was “genetic therapy”, claimed there was “a lot of censorship going on” and gave “inaccurate” and “misleading” statistics.

The GP had advocated Ivermectin as a treatment option for Covid-19, despite knowing this was not in line with recommendations from safety authority Medsafe and the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners at the time, the PCC claims.

Ivermectin is a prescription medicine approved in New Zealand for a limited number of conditions, including intestinal disease caused by roundworm (strongyloidiasis), certain parasites in blood or tissue, and for scabies after previous treatment has failed. It is also used to treat parasites in livestock.

Internationally, it has been touted as a treatment or cure for Covid-19, but there is little evidence to support these claims. It is dangerous in high doses and Medsafe has published a warning about its use for Covid.

Between June 2021 and October 2021, the Canterbury GP is said to have prescribed Ivermectin 34 times to 29 patients for the treatment of Covid.

In doing so, she failed to comply with recommendations on the drug at the time and failed to obtain adequate medical records for 31 of her consultations, the PCC said.

This meant there was no record of any discussion she had with some of her patients about the safety of the drug for treating Covid.

The GP has marked the clinical data as “confidential”. Some patients were registered as regular patients, meaning the notes could not be viewed by other doctors at the medical center where she worked, the PCC said.

In September 2021, the GP attempted to import 2,000 Ivermectin tablets (12mg each) when she knew or should have known that they were not intended for any particular patient and that importing that quantity posed potential safety risks, the PCC alleged .

It was also alleged that she had prescribed the drug to people not under her care and that she had not made any record of her conversations with them about the prescription and its use.

As an authorized prescriber, the GP can prescribe or authorize the release of a medicine imported by an individual, subject to compliance with all relevant legal, professional and ethical obligations.

The PCC alleged that the GP had written a letter to Medsafe accepting responsibility for the quality of the drug and that she had prescribed ivermectin or hydroxychloroquine to several people who imported it and were not under her care.

The PCC said the alleged conduct amounted to professional misconduct, malpractice or negligence and “brought the profession into disrepute”.

The GP admitted prescribing, importing and approving unapproved medicines for the treatment or prevention of Covid.

However, she did not accept that she had made inaccurate and misleading statements about Covid.
The hearing will last a week.