KEY POINTS:
A Korean immigrant whose only New Zealand qualification is a lapsed commercial pilot's licence has been fined $48,000 for posing as an optometrist.
Peter Sang Wook Park saw 477 patients between June 2006 and June 2007, after advertising as "Peter Park of Prime Care Optical" in East Auckland newspapers, including the Korean Times.
He was neither registered nor qualified to conduct eye tests, but says he was forced to carry out examinations himself after having trouble hiring a bona fide optometrist.
"At the time I didn't know it was illegal," Park told the Herald, minutes after his sentencing in the Manukau District Court yesterday.
"I would just align the machine with the eye, and it would spit out a prescription."
The 31-year-old said he had employed a locum as a stop-gap, but the locum could not always be present.
Park came to the Health Ministry's attention after it received a complaint from the public, and in September 2006 it sent an investigator for an eye check.
Park told the officer his glasses were not suitable, and prescribed new lenses.
A court summary says the officer would likely have suffered blurred vision, headaches, eye strain, and difficulty judging distances had he had Park's prescription filled.
Park admitted carrying out the bogus examinations, but insisted he did so "when he was satisfied there were no health concerns involved".
He told investigators he was qualified and registered as a dispensing optician in Australia, and as such was permitted to perform vision tests.
He later admitted that was a lie, but said he had Korean qualifications.
Health Ministry spokesman John Marwick told the Herald it was not clear whether Park held Korean qualifications.
But it did not matter anyway as practitioners were required to be registered in this country, and overseas qualifications were not necessarily recognised.
Park was warned after the investigator's visit, but by April last year the ministry had reports that he was still claiming to be registered.
He was subsequently charged with six representative offences under the Health Practitioners' Competence Assurance Act, carrying a potential maximum fine of $100,000.
Judge David Harvey described Park's offending as "highly premeditated" and "cynical and deliberate" and fined him $48,000 on all charges and $10,000 in legal fees. He also ordered him to pay $3444 reparation.
Outside court, Park said he disputed a number of the Crown allegations, but accepted the court's decision.
Park has been in New Zealand for about 13 years.
STILL OPEN FOR BUSINESS
Phoney optometrist Peter Park is still managing the East Auckland optometry business where he treated hundreds of unsuspecting patients, and the Health Ministry is happy for him to continue.
"As long as he is employing people who are registered ... then that's okay," ministry spokesman John Marwick told the Herald yesterday.
People are free to see whatever type of health professional they choose - from faith healers to registered medicos - Dr Marwick said.
However, the ministry took a dim view of anyone who falsely claimed to be a registered medical practitioner.
Many people were not familiar with the law regarding registration, and Park got the benefit of the doubt when he first came to ministry attention.
The ministry would have been happy if officers could have got "compliance by giving him a warning and allowing him to put things right". Instead, Park was, within months, claiming again to be a registered practitioner.
"This man's actions in holding himself out as an optometrist, conducting eye examinations and prescribing contact lenses and glasses, including to children, misled the public and placed their health at risk," Dr Marwick said.
The case - the first to be brought under new legislation - would serve as a reminder that people falsely claiming to be registered practitioners faced serious consequences, he said.
Park says he is now studying optometry by correspondence.
"It's not a university course, or anything like that, it's just a qualification course I can study on my own."
