A consultant doctor has defended himself against claims from one of his hysterectomy patients at a Medical Council inquiry in Dublin on Tuesday.
Consultant gynaecologist Peter Van Geene insisted he did not tell patient Helen Cruise he threw her womb in a bucket on the floor, as she has claimed, adding the idea of hitting her would be "anathema" to him.
Dr Van Geene faces a number of allegations at a fitness-to-practise inquiry in relation to four women on whom he performed vaginal hysterectomies between 2009 and 2011 at Aut Even hospital in Kilkenny.
Three of the women suffered major post-operative blood loss and required massive blood transfusions.
Helen Cruise, the only patient involved in the inquiry to waive her right to anonymity, had her surgery at Aut Even in August 2011.
Vaginal hysterectomy
After Dr Van Geene performed her vaginal hysterectomy, Ms Cruise suffered a major post-operative bleed and developed further complications. She was later transferred to St Luke’s Hospital for treatment.
In his evidence on Tuesday, Dr Van Geene suggested perhaps Ms Cruise had suffered from “transference”, or a desire to blame the doctor for everything that goes wrong during a procedure.
Ms Cruise claims that, after her hysterectomy, Dr Van Geene told her he had thrown her womb into a bucket on the floor.
When questioned about this by barrister Neasa Bird, legal representative for the chief executive of the Medical Council, Dr Van Geene said, "Did I say it? Oh, absolutely not.
“How can you say that to a patient? You can’t. That would be just outrageous.”
Dr Van Geene said he was happy to meet Ms Cruise when she requested to speak to him shortly before being discharged from St Luke’s Hospital, where she was transferred after her surgeries at Aut Even.
Dr Van Geene said he was happy to speak to her and thought it was important to do so.
Took umbrage
He said he went to St Luke’s expecting to explain what had happened. “Unfortunately, she took umbrage with everything I said,” he told the inquiry, adding she blamed him for everything.
“What was disappointing was that whenever I tried to explain everything, she got very angry,” he said.
Ms Cruise previously told the inquiry Dr Van Geene had blamed her for the post-operative bleed she suffered, saying her coughing caused it.
Dr Van Geene said he did suggest the bleed may have been caused by her coughing. However, he said he was “attempting to explain what had happened. No more, no less.”
At the inquiry sitting in July, Ms Cruise claimed that, during this post-operative conversation at St Luke’s, Dr Van Geene had told her, “Sue me, sue me, sue me,” after she complained to him about the care he provided.
“I never said, ‘Sue me, sue me, sue me’,” Dr Van Geene told the inquiry on Tuesday. “She said, ‘I’m going to see you again, and it won’t be in a hospital’.
“I said, ‘You do have the right to sue me, if you wish to do so’.
“Ms Cruise said, ‘You’re not God’ - which I’m perfectly aware of,” Dr Van Geene said.
“Ms Cruise also said I hit her. That is anathema. There are a number of things Ms Cruise said that I didn’t do.”
Dr Van Geene said: “I’m happy for a patient to criticise me.”
Independent witness
Dr Peter Boylan, former master of the National Maternity Hospital, was on Tuesday called as an independent expert witness by Eugene Gleeson, Dr Van Geene’s legal representative, and began his evidence.
It is alleged that Mr Van Geene made a decision to carry out a vaginal hysterectomy on Patient A, without carrying out the necessary investigations to establish whether this was clinically justified. Dr Boylan addressed this issue during his evidence to the inquiry , arguing that, in this instance, performing a hysterectomy was indeed clinically justified.
Dr Van Geene worked as a consultant gynaecologist at Aut Even hospital from June 2006 until November 2011.
Prior to working in Kilkenny he had a “very significant career” at an eminent hospital in London, which he gave up when he and his family decided to move to Ireland for personal reasons.
The inquiry continues on Wednesday, with Dr Boylan expected to continue his evidence.Tuesday marks the eighth day of the inquiry, which began in July.