Radiologist's reputation suffered in public eye: MDs

A physicians group says a Newfoundland and Labrador health authority erred by speaking publicly about a suspended radiologist before its internal investigation was complete.

Central Health announced Monday that an unnamed radiologist working at James Paton Hospital in Gander had been cleared after a review of about 500 records.

The authority said the physician whose suspension was announced June 1 will be compensated for the two-month period of the review, and is expected back to work within the week.

Joe Tumilty, the president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association, said the radiologist's privileges were pulled too quickly.

"There's no question that someone's reputation is going to be damaged if something like this is brought out in public," Tumilty said.

"Now we have to sort of undo some of that and see if we get things back on track so that the process is in place so that this doesn't happen again in that fashion."

Central Health disclosed the suspension shortly after another authority Eastern Health had announced a suspension of a radiologist practising on the Burin Peninsula. Analysis of that review, which involved thousands of records, is still underway.

The NLMA criticized the Eastern Health review for having been done in just two weeks, on orders of the provincial government. The review was later found to have missed hundreds of records.

The Gander radiologist declined comment.

His lawyer said his client intends to return to work, but was not sure when.

Meanwhile, Central Health chief executive officer Karen McGrath said the authority would like provincial and federal governments to develop clear rules on how to review the competence of physicians.

"It would have been much easier for us if we had definitive information with respect to benchmarks," she said. "The reality was we had to go with the best information we had."

The review was launched after colleagues complained about the radiologist's performance.