By ELIZABETH BINNING
Waikato doctor Richard Gorringe has again been found guilty of professional misconduct, this time following the death of a man he had treated for several years.
Mr Gorringe was struck from the medical register last year after being found guilty of professional misconduct and disgraceful conduct following his treatment
of two women in 1998.
Yesterday, the Medical Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal found him guilty of a new charge of professional misconduct, relating to his care of cancer patient Murray Leonard Smith.
Mr Smith died of bowel cancer in 1998, four years after he first went to see the then Dr Gorringe with stomach pain, a weak gut and diarrhoea.
Mr Gorringe diagnosed the 54-year-old Hamilton man with giardia, even though the disease did not appear in his blood tests.
During the next three years Mr Smith returned to Mr Gorringe a further 28 times. He was diagnosed with 10 different conditions, including salmonella and campylobacter, but never cancer.
In its decision, the tribunal found Mr Gorringe reached various diagnoses about Mr Smith's condition without any acceptable medical proof and that he failed to consider other diagnoses when his condition didn't improve.
It was also critical of Mr Gorringe's failure to arrange for a colonoscopy, which is used to look for signs of cancer, despite his claims to do so.
"What is of concern was that by the time Mr Smith underwent a colonoscopy his condition had deteriorated so badly that there was little that could be done to save him."
Mr Smith's family had urged him to seek a second opinion with a "proper doctor" but Mr Smith resisted, saying he had "great faith" in Mr Gorringe.
At one stage he did visit another doctor who raised the possibility of cancer and recommended a colonoscopy.
Mr Smith ignored the advice and returned to Mr Gorringe who prescribed more giardia treatment.
In mid-1997, Mr Smith returned to the other doctor and was diagnosed with cancer after a colonoscopy.
He underwent surgery but died six months later.
Mr Gorringe, who continues to practice alternative medicine at his Hamilton clinic, said he was disappointed with the decision.
He said equal weight had not been given to all the evidence and that the cancer was not present when he conducted a barium enema, a process similar to a colonoscopy, on Mr Smith in 1994.
Mr Gorringe is still trying to repay $100,000 in costs from his previous tribunal hearing.
But he does not plan to appeal against the latest decision.
