Final tribunal day for doctor accused of examining women's breast 'like milking a cow'

A tribunal for a North Island doctor facing a misconduct charge is set to wrap up today. Photo / 123RF

A tribunal for a doctor accused of telling a 15-year-old patient she should try masturbating and initiating inappropriate breast examinations is set to wrap up today.

The North Island doctor facing a misconduct charge is accused of telling a 15-year-old patient she should try masturbating, and initiating inappropriate breast examinations with multiple patients between 2011 and 2017.

In a closing submission yesterday, the defence council Dr Donald Stevens said one woman who testified against the doctor "did not survive" his cross examination and there were problems with virtually all of the eight women's stories.

"My respectful position is that the PCC [The Professional Conduct Committee] has failed to establish the charge and it should be dismissed."

His arguments centered around the witness' being unreliable because of the years that had passed since the alleged consultations and the time it took to report the incidents.

Stevens said one woman's inconsistency was "startling". He argued she forgot about one of her three appointments with the man and changed the period of time she believed he examined her breasts.

Comments the doctor is accused of saying include, "So you don't enjoy your breasts being touched," and "You know you're really attractive, don't you."

One woman alleged she felt pressured into getting her breasts examined and when she did agree he touched them like he was "milking a cow".

Stevens said the level of gossip within the community may have impacted what the women thought they had heard.

Another aspect of the defence's case argued that self-breast examination and clinician breast examination were not advised against.

The defence counsel said there were reputable organisations that did recommend clinician breast exams but there was differing schools of thought on the exams.

Last week, the tribunal heard from University of Auckland professor Dr Bruce Arroll who said there had been randomised trails which showed self-breast examination had no benefit.

"It doesn't alter mortality so, therefore, recommending bodies that are evidence-based don't recommend doing it," Arroll said.

Arroll also said it should only take one to two minutes to examine each breast in response to a woman who claimed the accused doctor had taken 15 to 20 minutes.

He told the tribunal there was no clinical guidance or justification on the topic of masturbation and it would have been highly embarrassing for a teenager to have it brought up.

To this Stevens argued it was right to bring up masturbation as they were discussing sex and said you couldn't fault that it was important the young woman was not to be pressured into sex.

He said the doctor believed it was much better to say that than the next year see her with an unwanted pregnancy.

The Professional Conduct Committee alleges the man's actions amount to misconduct and the examinations were not "clinically justified" or expected by the patients.

Stevens did concur that the doctor failed to made adequate notes on two to three occasions but said in his opinion this did not amount to professional misconduct.

The tribunal is expected to wrap up today.