A doctor accused of four counts of professional misconduct rang RTE's Liveline programme and disclosed personal information about one of his patients, a fitness-to-practise inquiry was told this morning.
Dr Laszlo Ruscsak, a consultant anaesthetist, who worked at Haven Cosmetics in Stillorgan, Dublin arranged for Lucia Dowd to have a gastric band operation in Hungary in October 2009 and was to provide aftercare to her on her return to Dublin.
Patrick Leonard BL, for the Medical Council, told the inquiry Dr Ruscak's aftercare was "wholly unsatisfactory" and Ms Dowd eventually had to go elsewhere for after care. She had to have the gastric band, put on to restrict her appetite and aid weight loss, removed in 2010.
She was at home listening to Liveline in September 2010, when she heard a discussion about Dr Ruscak, Mr Leonard said.
The doctor had been contacted by the programme for comment after another patient rang in to complain about him. She called in to the programme under a pseudonym and gave some details, Mr Leonard said.
The doctor then emailed RTE photos and medical details of Ms Dowd, he said. In an expert report for the Medical Council, concerns were also raised about the lack of counselling given to Ms Dowd in advance of the procedure.
The inquiry was also told he failed to respond to contacts from Ms Dowd on the day of her operation in the Hungarian hospital, where, Mr Leonard said, she felt "alone and unattended". After she returned to Ireland and was unwell, the doctor failed to respond to texts and phone calls from her. He was "dismissive and uninterested" and did not appear to take Ms Dowd's problems seriously, Mr Leonard said.
Dr Ruscsak, who had also worked for the HSE in a number of public hospitals, did not attend the hearing. The inquiry was told he had said it was impossible for him to fly from Hungary. He also declined to give evidence via video link as he would be in surgery all day and also said he would not send legal representatives. He had responded to issues in writing, he said.
Chairman Dr Deirdre Madden said the committee was satisfied Dr Ruscsak had been notified of the hearing.
