By MONIQUE DEVEREUX health reporter
Herbert Green, the doctor at the centre of the Cartwright cervical cancer inquiry, has died in hospital, aged 84.
The inquiry was sparked by his controversial research over two decades at Auckland's National Women's Hospital.
Dr Green, once described as one of the world's 25 outstanding physicians, studied the health of women with a pre-cancerous condition known as carcinoma in situ.
Some of the women under his care were treated more conservatively than the usual medical practice at the time, and others were not treated at all.
Dr Green believed the pre-cancerous condition did not automatically lead to cancer and that radical treatment such as hysterectomies could be avoided.
Dame Silvia Cartwright headed the seven-month inquiry, which began in 1987 after the publication of an article in Metro magazine, by Sandra Coney and Phillida Bunkle.
The inquiry found that some patients had received inadequate treatment, and in some cases the women had died as a result.
Dr Green and three other doctors were charged with multiple cases of disgraceful conduct by the Medical Council, although Dr Green's charges were dropped.
The Medical Council found that Dr Green, then aged 74, was unfit to defend the charges.
Auckland woman Clare Matheson was one of the many treated by Dr Green, and the central figure in a court case claiming damages from National Women's.
The case settled out of court and the 19 women involved were collectively awarded $1 million.
When told of Dr Green's death yesterday, Ms Matheson said he was "the misguided fellow in the middle of it all" and that it was the system that had failed by allowing the experimental research to go ahead.
"Dr Green's superiors approved what was happening; people on the other side of the world knew what was going on even though the women involved didn't. "
Her story is now the subject of a television documentary which will screen on TV One this month.
Ms Matheson said she was glad for the sake of Dr Green's family that he had passed away before the documentary screened.
Sandra Coney declined to comment and Phillida Bunkle could not be contacted yesterday.
Throughout Dr Green's career, he promoted the idea that radical surgery as a treatment was sometimes the wrong option.
In 1961 he was awarded a Lederie International Fellowship to study in the US for a year, and described as "one of 25 outstanding physicians in the world."
Dr Green had been unwell for several years. He died on Sunday.
Doctor at centre of cancer inquiry dies
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